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The Late Maurice Hutton,
M.A., LL.D.
Principal of University College
1901-1928
THE LIFE OF
BENJAMIN DISRAELI
EARL OF BEACONSF1ELD
THE MACMILLAN COMPANY
HBW YORK BOSTON CHICAGO DALLAS
ATLANTA SAN FRANCISCO
MACMILLAN & CO., LIMITED
LONDON BOMBAY CALCUTTA
MELBOURNE
THE MACMILLAN CO. OF CANADA, Lnv
TORONTO
VISCOUNTESS BEACONSFIELD.
From the portrait at Hughenden, painted in 1873 fij/ G. F. Middleton.
3
THE LIFE OF
BENJAMIN DISRAELI
EARL OF BEACONSFIELD
BY
GEORGE EARL BUCKLE
IN SUCCESSION TO W. F. MONYPENNY
VOLUME V
18681876
WITH PORTRAITS AND ILLUSTRATIONS
Read no history, nothing but
biography, for that is life without
theory. CONTARINI FLEMING.
Stan fork
THE MACMILLAN COMPANY
1920
All rights reserved
COPYRIGHT, 1920
BY THE TIMES PUBLISHING COMPANY, LIMITED
Set up and electrotyped. Published, April, 1920
CONTENTS OF VOK V.
CHAPTER PAGE
PREFACE . . . . , . . . . , . ix
I. THE IRISH CHURCH. 1868 ...... 1
II. DEFEAT AND RESIGNATION. 1868 . . . . 56
III. RESERVE IN OPPOSITION. 1868-1871 . . . . 102 f
IV. LOTHAIR. 1869-1870 . . , . . . . ' . 148
V. THE TURN OF THE TIDE. 1872-1873 . . . . 171 |
VI. BEREAVEMENT. 1872-1873 '. .. .-;... . 221
VII. LADY BRADFORD AND LADY CHESTERFIELD.
1873-1875 ' . . . ." . . . .237
VIII. POWER. 1874 .. ( . ....... 271
IX. POLITICAL SUCCESS AND PHYSICAL FAILURE.
1874 . . ' . 301
""" X. SOCIAL REFORM. 1874-1875 359
"" XI. AN IMPERIAL FOREIGN POLICY. 1874-1875 . . 406 I
XII. SUEZ CANAL AND ROYAL TITLE. 1875-1876 . . 439 /
-1JCIII. FROM THE COMMONS TO THE LORDS. 1876-1877 . 488
APPENDIX.
AN .UNFINISHED NOVEL 531
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS TO VOL. V.
VISCOUNTESS BEACONSFIELD Frontispiece
From a portrait by C. F. Middleton, at Hughenden.
FACING
PACK
GATHORNE HARDY, FIRST EARL OF CRANBROOK . . 28
From a portrait by W. E. Miller, at Hughenden.
MARY, COUNTESS OF DERBY 124
From a portrait after J. Swinton, at Hughenden.
"CRITICS" 170
From the cartoon by Sir John Tenniel, in Punch.
ANNE COUNTESS OF CHESTERFIELD 238
From a portrait after Sir E. Landseer, R.A., at Hughenden.
SELINA COUNTESS OF BRADFORD ...... 248
From a portrait after Sir F. Grant, P.R.A., at Hughenden.
MR. DISRAELI AT GLASGOW UNIVERSITY, 1873 . . . 264
From a drawing by Mrs. Blackburn, at Hughenden.
SIR PHILIP ROSE, FIRST BARONET 298
From a portrait by Van Havermaet, at Hughenden.
GROUP AT HUGHENDEN, WHITSUNTIDE, 1876 . . .312
From a photograph by H. W. Taunt, Oxford.
ROBERT, THIRD MARQUIS OF SALISBURY .... 360
From a portrait at Hughenden.
THE LIBRARY AT HUGHENDEN 404
From a photograph.
EDWARD HENRY, FIFTEENTH EARL OF DERBY . . 412
From a photograph by the London Stereoscopic Co.
BARON LIONEL DE ROTHSCHILD . . . . . .448
From a portrait at New Court.
PREFACE
TO VOLUMES V. AND VI.
It was originally intended that the story of the last
phase of Disraeli's life should be completed in one volume.
This would only have been possible if his management
of the Eastern Question, the most outstanding feature
of his great Administration, were treated merely in
general terms; a course which, .however unsatisfactory
in itself, appeared to be discreet and judicious, so long as
Russia was our faithful ally in the war, and was governed
by a friendly Sovereign, the grandson of that Emperor
Alexander who was in antagonism- in the later seventies
to Queen Victoria and to her Minister. But the Revolu-
tion in Russia, the repudiation of the Alliance, and the
murder of the Tsar have entirely changed the conditions.
There can be now no reasons of international delicacy to
prevent a full disclosure of Disraeli's Eastern policy ; with-
out which disclosure, indeed, the record of his life and ac-
complishment would be seriously imperfect. While the
course of history has thus tended to promote an extension
of plan, there has also been placed unexpectedly at my dis-
posal a great mass of important new material for the final
eight years, 1873 to 1881. It has, therefore, become inevi-
table to expand the proposed one last volume into the two
volumes now submitted to the public.
During more than half the period, 1868 to 1881, covered
by these volumes, Disraeli was the First Minister of the
Crown ; and the principal documents not hitherto accessible
to the world, bearing on his public policy, must necessarily
be his correspondence with Queen Victoria. His Majesty
the King has graciously permitted me to make an extensive
ix
x PREFACE TO VOLUMES V. AND VI.
selection from these royal papers, and thus to illustrate and
elucidate in an ample manner both the policy of the Min-
ister and his relations to his Sovereign. I am deeply sen-
sible of the magnitude of the benefit that the book has
received through His Majesty's kindness, for which I desire
to tender very dutiful acknowledgments.
Only second to my obligations to the King are my in-
debtedness and my gratitude to those who have afforded
me access to the new material mentioned above. By the
courtesy of the Bridgeman family, and, in particular, of the
Dowager Lady Bradford, of Commander the Hon. Richard
Orlando Beaconsfield Bridgeman, R.N., Beaconsfield's god-
son and namesake, a gallant officer who has since given his
life for his country, and of Lady Beatrice Pretyman, the
present owner, I have been enabled to make copious use of
the voluminous correspondence which Disraeli in his last
years carried on with two sisters, Selina Lady Bradford
and Anne Lady Chesterfield. The character of Disraeli's
letters and of the intimacy between him and these ladies is
fully explained in Volume V., chapter 7 ; and every subse-
quent chapter in both volumes bears witness to the vital
importance of the contribution thus made to Disraelian
biography. Attention may perhaps be drawn here to one
feature of this familiar correspondence: the highest in the
land are often playfully alluded to in it under fanciful
names. Thus Queen Victoria appears frequently as the
Faery or Fairy, Disraeli's imagination conceiving of Her
Majesty as a modern Queen Elizabeth, a nineteenth-century
Faery Queen, so that he could write of and to her somewhat
in the same romantic fashion as Spenser or Raleigh em-
ployed in addressing and describing their magnificent
Mistress.
I have to thank the Beaconsfield trustees for the con-
tinuance of their confidence and encouragement; and to
lament that death has once more caused a breach in their
ranks: Mr. Leopold de Rothschild, whose marriage recep-
tion in January, 1881, was among the last social functions
which Beaconsfield attended, having passed away since
PREFACE TO VOLUMES V. AND VI. xi
Volume IV. was published. There are many others to
whom I owe thanks either for permission to use letters, or
for more direct assistance in the preparation of these vol-
umes. I would especially mention Lord Derby, Lord San-
derson, Lord Salisbury, Lord Iddesleigh, the Bishop of
Worcester, Major Coningsby Disraeli, Mr. Norton Long-
man, Mr. Murray, and my wife.
It is with a sense of thankfulness and relief that I bring
to a conclusion a biography, the publication of which has
suffered so much through death and delay. Lord Rowton,
Beaconsfield's literary executor ; Nathaniel Lord Rothschild
and Sir Philip Rose, the original trustees of the Beacons-
field estate; Mr. Moberly Bell, who, at the request of the
trustees, undertook, on behalf of The Times, to arrange
for the publication and to supply a biographer; and Mr.
Monypenny, who projected the work and completed the first
two volumes are all dead ; and further delay has been
caused by illness and the war. The fact that two writers
have been successively engaged upon the book has neces-
sarily impaired its unity; though I have not consciously
departed from the lines upon which Mr. Monypenny
worked, save perhaps in making an even more extensive use
of the wealth of Disraeli's letters at my command. Wher-
ever possible, I have preferred to let Disraeli tell his own
story, rather than to tell it for him. It is, I hope, a fair
claim to make for these six volumes that, whatever their
imperfections, they largely enable the reader to realise Dis-
raeli's life from the inside, through the evidence of his
familiar letters to wife, sister, and friends, as well as of his
political and personal letters to his Sovereign and his col-
leagues.
This method of biography, of course, precludes brevity.
But a large canvas is required to display with anything like
justice the character and achievement of one who did so
much, and who was so much ; who held the attention of the
world, as man, author, Parliamentarian, and statesman, for
nearly sixty years, from the publication of Vivian Grey
till the last day of his life; whose career his rival Glad-
xii PREFACE TO VOLUMES V. AND VI.
stone pronounced to be the most remarkable, with the pos-
sible exception of the younger Pitt, in our long Parliamen-
tary history; who, apart from his political eminence, won
a definite and distinguished place in literature ; and who, to
adopt the apt words of a reviewer of the fourth of these
volumes, was also ' one of the most original, interesting,
and interested human beings who ever walked through the
pageant of life.' Unlike as Disraeli was in most respects
to the great Tory of a hundred years before him, Dr. John-
son, he resembled him in being a unique figure of extraor-
dinary and, I would fain believe, perennial human interest;
one of those figures about whose personality and perform-
ance the curiosity of the world remains ever active. It has
been my aim, as it was Mr. Monypenny's, from the mass
of papers bequeathed to Lord Rowton, and from an abun-
dance of other original sources, to satisfv that curiosity.
G. E. B.
LONDON,
October, 1919.
CHAPTER I
THE IRISH CHURCH
1868
From February, 1868, till his death thirteen years later,
Disraeli was the titular head, as he had long been the most
vital force, of the Conservative party. But until after his
victory at the polls in 1874 his authority was of an im-
perfect character, liable to question and dispute. Lord
Derby lived for a year and a half after his resignation;
and throughout that period many of his old followers still
looked upon him as their leader, with Disraeli as acting
deputy; a position which, indeed, Disraeli himself had
gracefully volunteered to accept, though Derby's common
sense and good feeling had repudiated the suggestion. 1
Derby's death, in 1869, converted Disraeli's regency over
the party into actual sovereignty ; but the ill-fortune which
had attended the Conservatives at the General Election
in November, 1868, continued to discredit the foresight
and diminish the prestige of the new Chief until the by-
elections from 1871 onwards showed that the tide had
turned. With success came general and unstinted confi-
dence; and during the Administration of 18741880, Dis-
raeli exercised as undisputed a sway over his followers, and
as complete a control over Parliament, as ever was attained
in this country by Minister or party-leader. The confidence
of his party was not seriously shaken by the crushing defeat
of 1880; he retained it in almost undiminished measure to
the last day of his life.
The nine months of his first Administration were, how-
i See Vol. IV., p. 590.
1
2 THE IRISH CHURCH [CHAP. I
ever, a troubled and unsatisfactory time. Not that the
unfavourable turn of events was due to the deficiencies of
the Cabinet, which was constituted as follows :
First Lord of the Treasury . . B. DISRAELI.
Lord Chancellor . . . . LORD CAIRNS.
Lord President . . . . DUKE OF MARLBOROUGH.
Lord Privy Seal . . . . EARL OF MALMESBURY.
Home Secretary . . . . GATHORNE HARDY.
Foreign Secretary . . . . LORD STANLEY.
Colonial Secretary . . . . DUKE OF BUCKINGHAM.
War Secretary . . . . . . SIR JOHN PAKINGTON.
Indian Secretary . . . . SIR STAFFORD NORTHCOTE.
Chancellor of the Exchequer . . G. WARD HUNT.
First Lord of the Admiralty . . HENRY J. L. CORRY.
President of the Board of Trade . . DUKE OF RICHMOND.
First Commissioner of Works ... LORD JOHN MANNERS.
Chief Secretary for Ireland . . EARL OF MAYO.
Though not so powerful as Derby's original Cabinet in
July, 1866, it was still a formidable combination, contain-
ing half a dozen members who were real statesmen, and
several more who were experienced and competent adminis-
trators. If it had lost Cranborne, it had gained Cairns;
and its principal loss, that of Derby himself, did not affect
the Chamber in which the battle was immediately to be
fought, though it undoubtedly affected the ultimate tribunal,
the electorate, who had regarded him with respect, though
not with enthusiasm, for nearly forty years. But the most
efficient Cabinet is of no avail in the face of an ad-
verse, and united, Parliamentary majority. In Parliament
Whigs, Liberals, Radicals, and Irish, taken all together, had
a majority of sixty or seventy over the Conservatives ; and,
with the settlement of the Reform question which had
divided them, they would, however sore with one another,
have a disposition to reunite in order to regain office.
One aspect of the Parliamentary situation demands espe-
cial notice. As Derby had been obliged by ill-health to
give way to Disraeli, so Russell, owing to his increasing
years, had retired this winter in favour of Gladstone. With
1868] GLADSTONE AND DISEAELI 3
the session of 1868 the protagonists of the two parties in the
House of Commons stood out as the party leaders. Each
admired and respected the great Parliamentary qualities of
his rival ; but Gladstone's respect was combined with an alloy
of deep moral disapprobation a frame of mind which
was fostered by what Disraeli had called the ' finical and
fastidious crew ' of High Anglicans among whom Gladstone
familiarly moved. To them and to him Disraeli's eleva-
tion was an offence. A brilliant journalist shrewdly di-
agnosed the Gladstonian temper of the moment:
One of the most grievous and constant puzzles of King David
was the prosperity of the wicked and the scornful, and the same
tremendous moral enigma has come down to our own days. . . .
Like the Psalmist, the Liberal leader may well protest that verily
he has cleansed his heart in vain and washed his hands in in-
nocency; all day long he has been plagued by Whig Lords and
chastened every morning by Radical manufacturers; as blame-
lessly as any curate he has written about Ecce Homo; and he has
never made a speech, even in the smallest country town, without
calling out with David, How foolish am I, and how ignorant!
For all this, what does he see? The scorner who sbot out the lip
and shook the head at him across the table of the House of Com-
mons last session has now more than heart could wish; his eyes,
speaking in an Oriental manner, stand out with fatness, he speak-
eth loftily, and pride compasseth him about as a chain. . . .
That the writer of frivolous stories about Vivian Grey and Con-
ingsby should grasp the sceptre before the writer of beautiful and
serious things about Ecce Homo the man who is epigrammatic,
flashy, arrogant, before the man who never perpetrated an epi-
gram in his life, is always fervid, and would as soon die as
admit that he had a shade more brain than his footman the
Radical corrupted into a Tory before tbe Tory purified and
elevated into a Radical is not this enough to make an honest
man rend his mantle and shave his head and sit down among
the ashes inconsolable ? l
But inaction in face of such a moral paradox would have
been wholly out of keeping with Gladstone's vigorous char-
acter. His ' teeth were set on edge,' as Gathorne Hardy
^ Pall Mall Gazette, March 3, 1868.
4 THE IRISH CHURCH [CHAP, i
wrote, ( and he prepared to bite.' * It might be thought that
the last session of an expiring Parliament a session which
must be devoted mainly to the corollaries of Reform and to
necessary administrative work would afford him little
opportunity. There was, however, a weapon to his hand,
but it was one which he had hitherto hesitated to grasp, so
completely would its employment mark his severance from
the most cherished of the ideas with which he entered pub-
lic life. On the other side, nothing could recommend him
so strongly to the party which he had now finally adopted
as to brandish the sword of religious equality, even if only
in Ireland. Gladstone's Church views had been the one
great stumblingblock to complete sympathy with his new
party ; and hitherto he had declined to associate himself with
that attack on the Irish Establishment which had united
Whigs (when in opposition), Radicals, and the Irish brigade
ever since the days of Russell's motion in 1835 about the
Appropriation Clause. He had, indeed, he has told us,
regarded the position of the Irish Church as indefensible
since 1863 ; but both in 1865 and in 1866 he had, as Min-
ister, resisted motions against it, and when he was seeking
re-election at Oxford in 1865 had informed a clerical voter
that he regarded the question as ' remote and apparently
out of all bearing on the practical politics of the day.'
At that time, so far as public declarations went, it seemed
even more unlikely that Gladstone would effect Irish dis-
establishment than that Disraeli would carry household
suffrage.
But the Fenian conspiracy had forcibly directed public
attention to the defects of British government in Ireland,
and the leaders of both parties were preoccupied with Irish
policy. The object at which both aimed was the reconcilia-
tion with England of the leaders of Roman Catholic opin-
ion in Ireland. With Roman Catholic opinion in England
i Gathorne Hardy's Life of Lord Cranbrook, Vol I., p. 264. Hardy's
diaries are most valuable evidence as regards the proceedings of Dis-
raeli's two Governments; and the following pages will show how great
are my obligations to the admirable biography of the father by the son.
1868] MANNING AND DISRAELI 5
Disraeli had established a modus vivendi during Palmer-
ston's Government, though, owing to an indiscretion of
Derby's, its effect had been impaired at the last General
Election. In regard to Ireland he had advocated concilia-
tion, but conciliation through the action of a powerful and
vigorous executive, from his early days in Parliament. In
a famous speech l in 1844 he had said that it was the duty
of an English Minister to effect in Ireland by policy all
those changes which a revolution would effect by force; in
1847 he had urged the liberal outlay of English gold to
forward Irish economic development; in the first Derby-
Disraeli Government he had endeavoured to pass into law a
comprehensive reform of Irish land tenure in favour of
the tenant; and in the second Derby-Disraeli Government
he had contemplated the grant of a charter to a Roman
Catholic University in Dublin, but had lacked the time to
carry the policy into act. It was this last scheme which
he took up once more in the years 1867 and 1868, being
much encouraged by Manning, who had recently become
Roman Catholic Archbishop of Westminster, and who was
eager to assume the lead in all movements for the benefit
of his adopted co-religionists. From May, 1867, to March,
1868, Disraeli was in regular communication with the
Archbishop, who represented himself as fully acquainted
with the views of Cardinal Cullen and the other leaders of
Irish Roman Catholic opinion. After an informal conver-
sation on an early Sunday in May, Manning brought the
Rector of the existing Roman Catholic University in Dublin
to see Disraeli. In a letter arranging for the interview
Manning wrote, on May 21 : 'I am able to say, of my
own knowledge, that any favourable proposal from Govern-
ment on the subject of the Catholic University would not
only encounter no opposition, but would be assisted. I be-
lieve I may say that this includes the granting of a charter.
What I write is not from second-hand. I can add that the
" Chief " I conferred with is in the front, and he fully
i See Vol. II., pp. 188-194.
6 THE IKJSH OHUKCH [CHAP, i
recognises the need of removing the Catholic education of
Ireland from the turbulent region of politics.' He urged
Disraeli to disregard certain expressions of Irish members
of Parliament, hostile to chartering a Catholic University.
' I am now able to state/ he wrote on August 20, ' that they
do not represent the sense and desire of Cardinal Cullen or
of the Irish Bishops.' He warned Disraeli of the impor-
tance of securing the co-operation of the Irish Bishops.
In the winter months the conversations were resumed.
On December 22 Manning wrote that he had just received
a letter from Cardinal Cullen ' on the subject of our last con-
versation,' and requested a further appointment, which ap-
parently took effect on December 28. On January 15,
1868, he suggested another talk, stating in his letter that
he had been reading ' with great assent ' Disraeli's speech
on Irish affairs in 1844. Again, on February 19, he ac-
cepted an appointment for the following day. This was
just after the reopening of Parliament, when the grave
news of Derby's relapse was turning all eyes upon his
Chancellor of the Exchequer. ' I fully understood your
silence,' Manning wrote, * knowing how much and anxiously
you must be pressed. The present moment is truly a crisis,
but I trust that all may issue in good.' Throughout these
weeks Manning was lending his assistance in maturing the
Ministerial plan, and he hailed Disraeli's elevation to the
Premiership in terms which showed not obscurely that he
was looking forward to co-operation with him in a policy
of Roman Catholic amelioration a policy which involved,
besides University education, a reform of the Irish land laws,
and an ultimate vision of concurrent endowment in Ireland
for the Roman Church.
From, Arch'bisnop Manning.
8, YORK PLACE, Feb. 26, 1868. The kindness and consideration
I have received from you impels me to convey to you my sympathy
at this great crisis of your public life.
It is my privilege to stand neutral between political parties, and
I have been united, for nearly forty years, in close personal friend-
1868] THE IRISH PROBLEM 7
ship with Mr. Gladstone; nevertheless it is a happiness to me to
see you where your public services have justly placed you as first
Minister of the Crown, and to add an expression of my best
wishes. I trust you may have health and life to carry out the
legislation which, as you one day told me, you thought yourself
too old to see realised. That is not so; and the season has set
in sooner than you then looked for.
This letter needs no reply, but I could not let the moment pass
without assuring you of my sympathy.
There was undoubtedly a certain disposition to look to
Disraeli a statesman who had always regarded Ireland !|
in a spirit alike of detachment and of sympathy for a
settlement of the Irish question. Early in the session of
1866 Bright had adjured both leaders, Gladstone and Dis-
raeli, to lay aside their Parliamentary rivalry and com-
bine with this object; and Bernal Osborne, shortly after
the formation of the 1866 Government, had recalled the
speech of 1844 and urged that now was the moment for
Disraeli to put in force the policy then proclaimed. The
successful settlement of the Reform difficulty by the method
of taking the House as a whole into council suggested that
the same man and the same method might solve the still
more intractable problem of Ireland. A voice reached
Disraeli in that sense from Australia. Gavan Duffy wrote
from Melbourne on November 26, 1867, congratulating him
on his success in his Herculean task of Reform, and urging
that there was a ' crowning work ' for him still to do.
* You could give Ireland peace, and, after a little, prosper-
ity.' It was too late for half-measures.
A statesman must offer the agricultural classes terms which
a reasonable man may regard as fairly competing with the terms
upon which he can obtain land if he emigrates to America or
Australia. ... If the State will buy up at a reasonable valuation
the waste lands now unproductive, and let them at a rent yielding
3 per cent, on the purchase money, and will further enable the
more intelligent and industrious Irish tenants on ordinary estates
to purchase the fee simple of their farms by a series of annual
payments representing the actual value, you will have tran-
8 THE IRISH CHURCH [CHAP, i
quillised Ireland for this generation. The Church question and
the education question will remain to be dealt with, no doubt,
but these are the questions of the educated minority; the uneasy
classes are uneasy because of the perpetual uncertainty of tenure.
Subsequent history has shown that Gavan Duffy wad
right ; that putting the national question aside the
tenure of land was the crux of the Irish problem, and
could only be solved by an extensive system of purchases.
But the t educated minority ' of Roman Catholics in Ire-
land were more vocal than the farmers and peasants; ac-
cordingly it was the Church question and the education
question which were taken in hand at this time by leaders
and parties in Parliament, the one by Gladstone and the
other by Disraeli; though Disraeli had recognised in the
past, and Gladstone, as his Irish researches proceeded, was
to discover in the future, the supreme importance of a
satisfactory settlement of the land question.
(The idea of Disraeli and the Government was to estab-
lish in Dublin an institution which should stand in relation
to the Roman Catholics somewhat in the same position that
Trinity College does to Protestants. The governing body
should entirely consist of Roman Catholics ; and the teach-
ing be mainly conducted by them ; but full security should
be taken that no religious influence should be brought to
bear on students who belonged to another faith. Five pre-
lates, together with the President of Maynooth, were to be
put on the governing body, the senate ; but there was to be a
strong lay element in its constitution, and the Government
contemplated the appointment of a layman as the first
Chancellor. The State would pay the establishment charges
of the new University, but the general question of State
endowment would be postponed. This scheme, in general
terms, had Manning's approval; and, from his assurances,
Disraeli had reason to hope that it would be accepted in
substance by the Irish Bishops. Accordingly, after its
promulgation on March 10 by Mayo in the House of Com-
1868] CLAIMS OF THE IRISH BISHOPS 9
mons where, though scoffed at by Bright as a pill good
against the earthquake, it was received with benignity both
by Chichester Fortescue on behalf of the official Liberals
and by Monsell on behalf of the Roman Catholic laity it
was submitted to Archbishop Leahy and Bishop Derry, the
appointed representatives of the hierarchy. Unfortunately,
their attitude was widely different from what the Govern-
ment had been led to expect. They demanded the submis-
sion of the new University to episcopal guidance. The
Chancellor, they claimed, must always be a prelate, and
Cardinal Cullen ought to be the first Chancellor. General
control must not rest with the senate as a whole, a pre-
ponderatingly lay body, but with its episcopal members.
These prelates must have an absolute veto on the books
included in the University programme, and on the first
nomination of the professors, lecturers, and other officers;
and must also have the power of depriving such teachers
of their offices, should they be judged by their Bishops to
have done anything contrary to faith and morals.
Claims of this kind were so preposterous that the whole
scheme had to be relinquished. Dr. Leahy and Dr. Derry
were not men of affairs, and it has been suggested and
may well be true that they asked for twice as much as
they were prepared to take, and were astonished when the
Government abandoned the negotiation as hopeless. But
it is difficult not to connect the extremist attitude of the
Irish negotiators with the development of Gladstone's policy
of disestablishment The preliminary reply of the Bishops
was dated M#rch 19, three days after Gladstone's announce-
ment that the Irish Church, ' as a State Church, must cease
to exist.' The final reply, expressing the episcopal views in
detail, was dated March 31, after Gladstone had tabled his
famous Resolutions, and while the debate on them in the
House of Commons was in progress. Until Gladstone's
announcement Manning was still active on behalf of the
scheme ; but his last letter to Disraeli was dated on the very
10 THE IRISH CHURCH [CHAP, i
day (March 16) when the announcement was made. From
that moment he ceased all communication with the Prime
Minister till the close of the Government in December,
when he excused himself as follows :
From Archbishop Manning.
8, YORK PLACE, W., Dec. 2, 1868.. . . I have felt that a ra-
vine, I will not say a gulf, opened between us when the Resolu-
tions on the Irish Church were laid upon the Table of the House.
I regretted this, as I had hoped to see the scheme of the Catholic
University happily matured; but with my inevitable conviction
as to the Irish Church I felt that I ought not to trespass upon
your kindness, which I can assure you I shall remember with
much pleasure. . . .
It is not unnatural that Disraeli should have felt that he
had been treated shabbily by the representatives of the
Roman Catholics, and especially by Manning. He said
on more than, one occasion to Roman Catholic friends that
he had been stabbed in the back. Manning's defence, when
he heard the accusation, was that the University negotia-
tions * were entirely taken out of my hands by the Bishops
who corresponded with you, and in a sense at variance with
my judgment and advice.' Had he been left free to act,
he maintained that he would have been successful ; and he
averred that he had never ceased to regret the failure of
his efforts. 1
Whatever the degree of Manning's responsibility, the
facts and dates suggest that the Roman Catholic author-
ities were diverted from adhesion to Disraeli's programme
by Gladstone's superior bid. It was impossible to resist
the temptation of wreaking vengeance on the Anglican
Church, though in the result they got nothing of the Church
revenues, nor even, till after forty years, the Catholic Uni-
versity which was within their grasp; and the temporal
power of the Pope, the importance of which to Roman Catho-
i Letter from Manning to Disraeli, dated Rome, May 7, 1870. Man-
ning cited, as a witness to the accuracy of his account, Cashel Hoey,
a well-known Irish journalist.
1868] GLADSTONE'S NEW POLICY 11
lies Disraeli alone among British statesmen appreciated,
perished a couple of years later, in 1870.
Gladstone allowed the new Government no close time,
but, like a capable general, took the offensive at once.
Derby's resignation and Disraeli's appointment as his suc-
cessor were announced in both Houses on Tuesday, February
25; on Thursday, March 5, after nine days' adjournment,
Disraeli and his colleagues presented themselves to Parlia-
ment and made their Ministerial profession of faith; only
five days later, on Tuesday, March 10, came a debate on the
Irish question initiated by an Irish member, and the Chief
Secretary's exposition of policy; and on the last night of
that debate, Monday, March 16, less than three weeks after
Disraeli's acceptance of office, Gladstone launched the new
policy of the Liberal party, the immediate disestablishment
and disendowment of the Irish Church. It was Gladstone's
most brilliant and successful stroke as a party leader. The
settlement of the Reform question by Disraeli's statesman-
ship had deprived the Liberals of the popular cry which
they had for long utilised at elections, if they forgot it in
Parliament. If no new cry were raised, there was a fear
lest the working man might be disposed to vote, not for
those who had often promised but failed to perform, but for
those who had actually given him the franchise. The Irish
Church was in a very weak position, and could not long be
left untouched; it was, at this very time, undergoing in-
vestigation by a Commission which the Government had
appointed in the previous year. It claimed, indeed, to be,
like the Church of England, the historical representative of
the ancient Church of the country ; and its maintenance, as
an establishment united to its sister Church, was one of the
provisions by which the assent of the then dominant Protes-
tants in Ireland was secured for the Act of Union. But,
though it was the Church of the ruling classes, it had failed
to win the affections of the people. More than three-quar-
ters of the total population were Roman Catholics, and of
the remainder nearly a half were Presbyterians. The
12 THE IRISH CHURCH [CHAP, i
Church of Ireland ministered to only about one-eighth of
the people of Ireland. Moreover, it was Evangelical in its
tendencies, and had been very little affected by the Tracta-
rian development. Here was an institution the attack upon
which would rally to the Liberal banner Roman Catholics,
Liberal Anglicans, Dissenters and Secularists, Whigs jeal-
ous of ecclesiastical power, and Radicals hostile to corporate
property. Besides, a policy of disestablishment and dis-
endowment gave a great opportunity for specious electioneer-
ing cries calculated to attract the new voter : ' religious
equality,' ' justice to Ireland.'
How were the Government, how were the Conservative
party, to meet it? The Prime Minister, nearly a quarter
of a century before, had declared that an ' alien Church '
was one of Ireland's legitimate grievances. He had re-
fused to respond to Derby's urgent requests that he should
speak on its behalf in Parliament, and had written to him
shortly after the General Election : ' I do not think that
any general resolution respecting the Irish Church could be
successfully withstood in the present Parliament. It is a
very unpopular cause, even with many of our best men.' 1
On the other hand, the party which Disraeli led was es-
sentially the defender of the Church of England, and had
been especially mobilised by himself in its defence. More-
over, any loosening of the bond between religion and the
State was repugnant to all his theocratic ideas. One sec-
tion of the Cabinet, headed by Hardy, and powerfully sup-
ported by Derby from without, desired that high ground
should be taken and the proposal denounced as sacrilege;
or, if unity could not be preserved on those lines, at least
that a strong passive resistance should be offered to change.
Another section, in which Stanley and Pakington were con-
spicuous, was ready to accept disestablishment as inevitable,
and desired to concentrate on liberal treatment of the dis-
established Church together with a utilisation of surplus
revenues for the benefit of Roman Catholics.
i See Vol. IV., pp. 405, 406, 425, 426.
1868] DERBY'S VIEWS 13
From Lord Derby.
Confidential. KNOWSLEY, March 3, 1868. Anxious as I am for
the permanence of your Government, I cannot refrain from ex-
pressing my apprehensions as to the forthcoming discussions upon
the Irish questions. . . .
Your real difficulty will arise when you come to deal with the
Established Church. You know that I have always entertained
a very strong opinion adverse to the right of Parliament to alien-
ate any part of the property of that or of any other corporation,
and this was the main ground of our successful opposition to the
Appropriation Clause, the ohject of which was to convert to secu-
lar purposes any surplus, over and above what might he deemed
requisite for the maintenance of the establishment. It seems to
be generally assumed that this principle is no longer tenable ; but
the moment you depart from it, you will find yourself involved in
inextricable difficulty. The obvious course would appear to be, at
all events, to wait for the report of the Commission which we
issued last year; but Stanley says, though I do not agree with
him, that Parliament will not, and Gladstone says that it shall
not, admit that ground for postponement of legislation. In my
opinion, however, the safest course for the Government will be
to abstain from making any proposition whatever. . . . The diffi-
culties of this question are such that I am convinced your safety
is to sit still, and, instead of showing your hand, to compel your
adversaries to exhibit theirs, with all their discrepancies and con-
tradictions. . . .
To Lord Derby.
10, DOWNING STREET, March 4, 1868. . . . We have discussed
our Irish policy for two days, and have arrived at conclusions
which are very much in unison with your suggestions to bring
in a Land Bill, which will deal with all those points of the contro-
versy on which there begins to be a concurrence of opinion ; and
with respect to the others, to propose another Devon Commission.
The famine and State emigration have happened since the la-
bors of that inquiry, and we think that such a body of evidence
will be collected as to the present improved state of the country
that a great effect may be produced on public opinion.
The Cabinet adopted unanimously the University scheme which
you had approved.
With regard to the great difficulty and the real danger, the
Church, although there was great difference of opinion in the
Cabinet on the merits of the question, there was unanimity that it
14 THE IKISH OHUKCH [CHAP, i
ought not to be treated except in a new Parliament; and also
that no pledge should be given of maintaining absolutely un-
changed the present state of ecclesiastical affairs. . . .
Disraeli was not likely to overlook one obvious method
of contributing to the tranquillisation of Ireland the
presence of royalty in that country. Like other Ministers,
before and after his time, he was hampered by the un-
fortunate reluctance of Queen Victoria either to go to
Ireland herself or to permit members of her family to go.
No doubt the disturbed state of the country gave some
reason for anxiety in case of a royal visit, but both the
Lord-Lieutenant and the Chief Secretary, Abercorn and
Mayo, each of them an Irishman with a wide knowledge of
Irish feeling, urged the great advantage of a visit from the
Prince of Wales; and the representations of Disraeli at
length prevailed to secure Her Majesty's consent.
To Lord Derby.
Confidential. 10, DOWNING STREET, March 9, 1868. . . . The
Prince of Wales is to pay a visit to Ireland at Easter. This af-
fair has given me much trouble. They invited the Prince without
the previous consent of Her Majesty, and the occasion chosen for
eliciting the loyal feeling of Ireland was a princely visit to some
races at a place with the unfortunate title of Punchestown, or
something like it. The Queen did not approve of the occasion, or
a state visit agreed to without her authority; and the matter ap-
peared to me, at one time, more serious than the Irish Church,
but with much correspondence and the loyal assistance of General
Grey, whose conduct is really admirable, I think we have got all
right. Lords Abercorn and Mayo are pardoned, and, I hope, the
Prince; and, if my humble suggestion be adopted, the inaugura-
tion of H.R.H. as a Knight of St. Patrick, in the renovated cathe-
dral, will be an adequate occasion for the royal visit, and a more
suitable and stately cause than a race, however national.
Stanley did more than well about Alabama; strengthened the
Government. He gives me daily good accounts of you, which are
agreeable to your devoted D.
The Irish Government would have liked to follow up
the Prince's visit by the establishment of a permanent
1868] DEMAND FOR DISESTABLISHMENT 15
royal residence in Ireland. But on this point the resistance
of the Queen could not be overcome.
From Sir John PaTcington.
Confidential. 52, GROSVENOR PLACE, S.W., March 14, 1868. Is
it not still possible that you may suggest in your speech a com-
promise on the Church question, which may at least diminish the
effect of any move on the opposite side? It is clear that a state
of affairs which no one ventures to defend cannot be main-
tained.
I think we may consent to disestablishment, but we cannot con-
sent to disendowment. Hardy hinted that any surplus may be
dealt with. May not this hint be pushed further, and an outline
be sketched for (1) disestablishing; (2) insuring a surplus by re-
ducing the provision for the Church to the minimum of her real
requirements; (3) devoting the surplus to providing glebes, par-
sonages, and good churches for the R. Cs. ; (4) extending the pow-
ers of the Commission, if necessary, to arrange the details of such
a plan ?
You will excuse the zeal which offers a suggestion to one who
so little needs it.
The opinions expressed in the Irish debate, which lasted
four days, 1 were very various, but the Liberals, Radicals,
and Irish brigade all united in demanding the disestablish-
ment of the Church as the first step. This policy united
Lowe and Bright, Mill and Chichester Fortescue, Horsman
and Monsell. The Government speakers ridiculed the idea
that confiscation could be the proper way to start a healing
policy. But the Chief Secretary disclaimed a merely nega-
tive attitude on the part of Irish Protestants, and hinted that
levelling upwards and not downwards was the proper course.
Gladstone dismissed the Government policy for Ireland as
inadequate, though he agreed that the Roman Catholic griev-
ance about University education ought to be remedied. But
the Irish Church must first be dealt with, and must, as an
establishment, cease to exist. He brushed aside the idea
of waiting till the Commission then sitting had reported. If
the Government would not move, the Opposition must not
i March 10, 12, 13, and 16.
16 THE IRISH CHURCH [CHAP. I
be content with an empty declaration of opinion, but must
proceed to act.
Disraeli began happily by contrasting the apathy and in-
difference on this question shown by Gladstone and his
friends when in office, and their discovery of its instant im-
portance when in opposition. ( I could not but feel/ he
said, * that I was the most unfortunate of Ministers, since
at the moment when I arrived, by Her Majesty's gracious
favour, at the position I now fill, a controversy which had
lasted for 700 years had reached its culminating point, and
I was immediately called upon with my colleagues to pro-
duce measures equal to such a supernatural exigency.' He
defended the Irish policy of the Government as being one of
dealing with all such points as were by general agreement
sufficiently advanced for legislation, and referring to Com-
missions only those matters which were not ripe for decision.
To suggest that the object was delay was ' the lees and
refuse of factious insinuation.' He admitted that the Irish
Church was not in the condition in which he could wish to
see a national Church; but he dwelt earnestly on the im-
portance of connecting the principle of religion with gov-
ernment, otherwise political authority would become a
mere affair of police. If religion and government were to
be associated, endowment was inevitable. The Irish,
whether Presbyterian, Anglican, or Roman, were essen-
tially a religious people, and therefore in favour of ecclesi-
astical endowments. This great principle was at stake, and
Parliament had no moral competence to deal with it till
after an appeal to the nation an appeal which the Govern-
ment were prepared to hasten. He pointed, as Mayo had,
to some form of concurrent endowment. The moment had
arrived, he said, when there must be a considerable change
in the condition of the unendowed clergy of Ireland which
would elevate their influence. But he did not mean what
was vulgarly called l paying the priests,' and so making
them stipendiaries of the State, of which he strongly dis-
approved.
1868] ' MY HISTORICAL CONSCIENCE ' 17
He did not shrink from meeting the challenge which had
been thrown down to him to reconcile his present attitude
with his famous dictum in 1844 about a starving population,
an absentee aristocracy, and an alien Church.
With reference to that passage which has been quoted from a
speech made by me, I may remark that it appeared to me at the
time I made it that nobody listened to it. It seemed to me that I
was pouring water upon sand, but it seems now that the water
came from a golden goblet. With regard to the passage from
that speech there are many remarks which, if I wanted to vin-
dicate or defend myself, I might legitimately make. I might re-
mind the House that that speech was made before the famine and
the emigration from Ireland, and the whole of that passage about
the starving people and the amount of population to the square
mile no longer applies. I might remark that that speech was
made before the change in locomotion and the sale of a large por-
tion of the soil of Ireland, which has established a resident pro-
prietary instead of an absentee aristocracy, though, so far as I
can collect, the absentee aristocracy seems more popular than the
resident proprietary. All this I might say, but I do not care to
say it, and I do not wish to say it, because in my conscience the
sentiment of that speech was right. It may have been expressed
with the heedless rhetoric which, I suppose, is the appanage of
all who sit below the gangway ; but in my historical conscience the
sentiment of that speech was right.
Disraeli's speech pleased his colleagues and impressed the
House of Commons. Hardy was struck by its skill and
humorousness as opposed to Gladstone's extravagant vio-
lence. Cairns wrote : ' I doubt if anything, at once so diffi-
cult and so perfect, was accomplished even by yourself. The
issue on which you have placed our policy with Gladstone
is excellent.' Lennox reported Lowe and Henry Cowper
as being both decidedly of opinion that Disraeli had the
best of it in his duel with Gladstone. But the speech, in
view both of the divisions in the Cabinet and of Disraeli's
strong feeling, in his ' historical conscience,' of the anoma-
lous position of the Irish Church, was rather a debating an-
swer to Gladstone than a definite statement of policy ; and
the Prime Minister felt the necessity of deciding promptly
18 THE IRISH CHURCH [CHAP. I
on some line of action on which he could hope to secure the
united support of his colleagues. He accordingly outlined
during the next few days to Cairns, who as an Irish Protes-
tant was specially interested in the question, the policy
which, with certain modifications, was eventually adopted
by the Cabinet.
To Lord Cairns.
Secret. 10, DOWNING STREET, March 19, 1868. I wish very
much to confer with you, but as that is, I suppose, impossible, I
must endeavor, without loss of time, to convey to you my present
impressions as to the critical position at which not only the Cab-
inet, but the country, has now arrived.
I assume, from what reaches me, that Gladstone and his party
will now propose the disestablishment of the Irish Church.
He seems to me to have raised a clear and distinct issue. I
don't think we could wish it better put.
I think we ought to bold that the whole question of national
establishments is now raised ; that the Irish Church is but a small
portion of the question; and that those who wish to demolish it
must be held to desire the abolition of national establishments in
the three kingdoms.
But we must detach the Irish Church as much as possible from
the prominent portion of the subject, for, there is no doubt, it is
not popular.
I tbink, if the principle that the State should adopt and uphold
religion as an essential portion of the Constitution be broadly
raised, a great number of members from the north of England and
Scotland, called Liberals, would be obliged to leave the philosophic
standard.
I am, therefore, at present inclined to an amendment which,
while it admitted that the present condition of the Church in Ire-
land was susceptible of improvement, while it might be desirable
to elevate the status of the unendowed clergy of that country, still
declared it was the first duty of the State to acknowledge and
maintain the religious principle in an established form, etc.
All this is very rough writing, and the amendment would re-
quire the utmost thought and precision. What I want at present
to do is to call your immediate thought to the situation. It has
come on us like a thief in the night. It is useless to launch such
thoughts, as I suggest, in an unprepared Cabinet. You and I
must settle all this together, and then speak to one or two leading
spirits ; but it is quite on the cards that we may have to take our
course on Saturday in Cabinet.
1868] WAITING FOR GLADSTONE'S ATTACK 19
There ought to be no faltering on my part in that case; there-
fore I beg your earnest and devoted attention to all this. We
are on the eve of great events, and we ought to show ourselves
equal to them.
To Sir Anthony de Rothschild.
10, DOWNING STREET, March 19, 1868. You sent me some
good stuff to keep up my spirits in the great battles at hand;
so, if I beat my enemies, the ' great Liberal party ' will owe their
discomfiture to your burgundy!
Would you like to be Lord Lieutenant of the county? If
so, you must return me at least six members. That's the quota
for such a distinction. My love to your wife.
To Lord Derby.
10, DOWNING STREET, March 21, 1868. I have been intending,
and expecting, to write to you every day announcing the hostile
motion, and requesting your advice on it; but it has been delayed
so long that I am almost in hopes you may reach London before
it is made public. We had anticipated considering it in Cabinet
to-day, but, as you have observed, it was postponed last night,
and the House was favored only with a notice that a notice
would be given. Something new in Parliament! We have,
however, spent two hours and a half in the old room, from which
I have just escaped to send you this line to let you know how
we all were. We did a good deal of business, but nothing very
striking except settling our Bill for the purchase of the tele-
graphs of the United Kingdom.
A person of authority, and a social friend of Gladstone's,
told me yesterday that his present violent courses are entirely
to be attributed to the paralytic stroke of the Bishop of Win-
chester. 1 Until that happened G. was quiet and temperate, and
resisted all the anti-Church overtures of the advanced party.
But when this calamity happened to the worthy prelate Gladstone
became disturbed and restless, and finally adopted a more violent
course even than his friends had originally suggested. Strange
that a desire to make Bishops should lead a man to destroy
Churches !
I hope Lady Derby is well, and that your followers will soon
see you. Your very tired but devoted D.
Gladstone's Resolutions, though they were not ready so
soon as Disraeli anticipated, were not delayed beyond a
i Sumner.
20 THE IRISH CHURCH [CHAP, i
week, being laid on the table of tbe House on Monday,
March 23. They were three in number. The first affirmed
the necessity of immediate disestablishment; the second the
desirability of preventing the creation of fresh interests in
the Irish Church; the third proposed an address to the
Queen asking her to place her interest in the temporalities
of the Church at the disposal of Parliament. Disraeli im-
mediately put forth his reply in the shape of a letter to
Lord Dartmouth, who had forwarded to him a Conserva-
tive memorial expressing confidence in his leadership. In
it he followed the line laid down in the letter to Cairns,
insisting that there was a * crisis in England ' rather than
in Ireland ; ' for the purpose is now avowed, and that by a
powerful party, of destroying that sacred union between
Church and State which has hitherto been the chief means
of our civilisation and is the only security of our religious
liberty.'
The Queen was greatly disturbed by Gladstone's pro-
ceedings, but with true statesmanship was very anxious to
avoid raising a religious issue.
From Queen Victoria.
WINDSOR CASTLE, March 24, 1868. The Queen has read Mr.
Disraeli's account of Mr. Gladstone's proposed Resolutions with
the deepest concern. She fears there is but too much truth in
what Mr. Disraeli says of the spirit that may possibly be excited
amongst the Protestants of the three kingdoms, and of the danger
that exists of those old cries being revived which, in the name
of religion, have worked evils which successive Governments
have so long tried in vain to remedy. Mr. Gladstone must be
aware that the chief difficulty in governing Ireland has always
been to restrain the mutual violence of the old Orange party on
the one side, and of the Roman Catholics on the other; and he
might, the Queen thinks, to say the least, have paused before
he made a declaration, of which the only effect will certainly be
to revive and influence the old sectarian feuds and to render
the administration of Ireland more difficult.
The Queen trusts, however, to her Government, and especially
to Mr. Disraeli, carefully to avoid saying anything, however
great the provocation may be to act otherwise, that can tend to
1868] STANLEY'S AMENDMENT 21
encourage a spirit of retaliation amongst the Protestants or to
revive old religious animosities. It seems to her essentially a
state of things in which her Ministers will deserve and receive
the support of all who look to what is really for the good of the
country if they show moderation and forbearance in meeting this
attack, and studiously avoid taking a course which, though it
might give them a party advantage for the moment, would surely
be injurious to the permanent interests of the Empire.
In view of their internal disagreement, the Cabinet de-
termined to meet Gladstone's motion to go into Committee
on his Resolutions by a temporising amendment to be moved
by Stanley, which, while admitting that considerable modi-
fications in Irish Church temporalities might be expedient,
declared that the decision of the question should be left to
a new Parliament. It was an eminently reasonable proposi-
tion, but naturally, as it avoided the issue of principle, was
not combative enough to satisfy Derby, who wrote to Disraeli
on March 25 : ' It seems to me in the right sense, but it
implies rather more of concession than pleases me; for the
expression " without prejudging the question of considerable
modifications, etc.," appears practically to prejudge the
question to an extent which will not satisfy your Protestant
friends, and I shall be rather nervous as to Stanley's mode
of handling the subject.' Derby's nervousness was justi-
fied ; Stanley's mode of handling his subject dismayed and
disorganised his party. Even Cairns found him ' colour-
less and chilling,' while Hardy in his diary pungently de-
scribed his speech as ( the cry of a whipped hound.' Cran-
borne seized the opportunity to make an attack, in Hardy's
words, ' sneering as regards us all ; venomous and remorse-
less against Disraeli.' He went so far as to suggest that,
having betrayed the party over household suffrage, Disraeli
was preparing to betray them once more over the Irish
Church, Stanley's ' Delphic ' amendment being the first
step in a policy of disestablishment. Hardy made a spirited
reply to this malicious outburst, quoted recent letters and
speeches to show the suddenness of Gladstone's conversion,
22 THE IRISH CHURCH [CHAP, i
and defended the Irish Church and the principle of estab-
lishment and endowment in eloquent terms. All the leaders
took part in the debate. 1 Gladstone endeavoured to vin-
dicate his consistency, and asserted that the Church of Eng-
land would be benefitted and not injured by being severed
from a communion with what was politically dangerous and
socially unjust. Lowe gave Liberals the catchword, ' Cut
it down ; why cumbereth it the ground ? '
Disraeli had no difficulty, in his reply, in vindicating the
reasonableness of Stanley's amendment. The Government
could not meet Gladstone's motion with a direct negative, as
they thought some modification would be necessary. They
held, moreover, that, when a fundamental law of the coun-
try was attacked, Parliament was not morally competent
to decide the question, unless some intimation had been given
to the constituency which elected it. Once again, as on
the third reading of the Reform Bill, Disraeli dealt with
the virulent attacks made on him by Cranborne and Lowe.
The former he let off comparatively lightly. He recog-
nised the vigour and vindictiveness of his invective, but
thought, as a critic, that, in spite of all the study which
Cranborne had given to the subject, it lacked finish. 2 He
turned to Lowe, Cranborne's ' echo ' from the Liberal side.
When the bark is heard on this side, the right hon. member
for Calne emerges, I will not say from his cave, but perhaps
from a more cynical habitation. He joins immediately in the
chorus of reciprocal malignity, and 'hails with horrid melody
the moon.' . . . The right hon. member for Calne is a very
remarkable man. He is a learned man, though he despises
history. He can chop logic like Dean Aldrich ; but what is more
remarkable than his learning and his logic is that power of
spontaneous aversion which particularises him. There is noth-
1 March 30 and 31, April 2 and 3.
2 This was the last encounter between Cranborne and Disraeli in
the Commons. During the Easter recess Disraeli's old colleague,
Salisbury, died, and Cranborne succeeded to the title. Father and son
had been reconciled, and Salisbury had even espoused Cranborne's
quarrel with Disraeli, who, however, was able to write to Stanley on
April 15: 'I am glad that Lord Salisbury shook hands with me cor-
dially before he died.'
1868] DIVINE EIGHT OF GOVERNMENT 23
ing that he likes, and almost everything that he hates. He hates
the working classes of England. He hates the Roman Catholics
of Ireland. He hates the Protestants of Ireland. He hates His
Majesty's Ministers. And until the right hon. gentleman the
member for South Lancashire [Gladstone] placed his hand upon
the ark, he almost seemed to hate the right hon. gentleman.
Disraeli maintained that there had been a great improve-
ment in the state of Ireland since the Union, due to the
steady policy of conciliation which had been for many years
pursued by England, and especially by his own party.
They had acted on the principle that in Ireland it was wise
to create and not to destroy, and to strengthen Protestant
institutions by being just to Roman Catholics, as in the
University proposals then before Parliament. But Glad-
stone's policy would revive the acrimony of which they had
hoped to get rid, place classes and creeds in antagonism,
and indefinitely defer the restoration of political tranquil-
lity. He strongly objected to disendowment. ' I view with
great jealousy the plunder of a Church, because, so far as
history can guide me, I have never found that Churches are
plundered except to establish or enrich oligarchies.' There
might be some palliation if there were a question of restitu-
tion to the Roman Catholics, but he could not in any cir-
cumstances agree that the endowments should be applied to
what Liberals called secular purposes. ' A secular purpose
is always a job.'
Towards the close of his speech Disraeli developed the
argument on which he had touched in the previous debate,
which he had pressed in his letter to Cairns, and which was
especially congenial to one whose Jewish traditions gave a
theocratic bent to his mind. He insisted on the vital im-
portance of the union of Church and State; by which he
meant ' that authority is to be not merely political, that
government is to be not merely an affair of force, but is to
recognise its responsibility to the Divine Power.' The
divine right of Kings had properly been discarded, 'but
ftn intelligent age will never discard the divine right of
24 THE IEISH CHURCH [CHAP, i
Government. If government is not divine, it is nothing.
It is a mere affair of the police office, of the tax-gatherer,
of the guardroom.' * If the Church in Ireland fell, he
foresaw attacks on the Church in Scotland and on the Church
in Wales ; and the crisis in England, as he had said in his
letter to Lord Dartmouth, was fast arriving. * High Church
Ritualists and the Irish followers of the Pope have been
long in secret combination, and are now in open confederacy.
. . . They have combined to destroy that great blessing
of conciliation which both parties in the State for the last
quarter of a century have laboured to effect.'
Gladstone, in reply, deduced from Ministers' speeches
that their policy was some form of endowment for the
Roman Catholic Church, and condemned this alternative
as ' too late.' Gladstone's tone was the assured one of a
leader who knows that he has found a cause which unites and
inspires his party, and the division lobbies justified him.
Stanley's amendment was defeated by sixty votes, and the
motion to go into Committee was carried by fifty-six.
From Lord Cairns.
Confidential. 5, CROMWELL HOUSES, W., April 4, 1868.
. . . The division is larger than I expected, and yet I cannot
but hope that the numbers, together with the views which Glad-
stone's supporters have expressed, will during the recess make
the country awake to the gravity of the position. The issue,
as you have placed it, is excellent, and I cannot express my
admiration of the whole of your magnificent speech. 2
It was as an outwork of the Church of England that the
Church of Ireland especially appealed to Disraeli. The
same forces of Whiggery, Rationalism, and Dissent that
had gathered to the attack on Church rates were once more
1 In the General Preface to the novels, 1870, he reaffirmed this doc-
trine : ' The divine right of Kings may have been a plea for feeble
tyrants, but the divine right of Government is the keystone of human
progress, and without it government sinks into police, and a nation
IB degraded into a mob.'
2 On the other hand, to Hardy, the High Churchman, the speech
appeared ' obscure, flippant and imprudent.'
1868] RITUALISTS AND ROMANISTS 25
mobilised; and they were on this occasion reinforced by
the Roman Catholics and by some of the High Churchmen
and Ritualists, who were closely allied with Gladstone and
dreaded Erastianism more than disestablishment. It was
to this danger that Disraeli called attention in the last words
of his speech. His statement was widely challenged, but
he unhesitatingly defended it in a letter to a correspondent.
To the Rev. Arthur Baker.
HUGHENDEN MANOR, Maundy Thursday, 1 1868. . . . You are
under a misapprehension if you suppose that I intended to cast
any slur upon the High Church party. I have the highest respect
for the High Church party; I believe there is no body of men
in this country to which we have been more indebted, from the
days of Queen Anne to the days of Queen Victoria, for the
maintenance of the orthodox faith, the rights of the Crown, and
the liberties of the people. . . .
When I spoke I referred to an extreme faction in the Church,
of very modern date, that does not conceal its ambition to de-
stroy the connection between Church and State, and which I
have reason to believe has been for some time in secret combina-
tion, and is now in open confederary, with the Irish Romanists
for the purpose. The Liberation Society, with its shallow and
short-sighted fanaticism, is a mere instrument in the hands of
this confederacy, and will probably be the first victim of the
spiritual despotism the Liberation Society is now blindly work-
ing to establish. As I hold that the dissolution of the union
between Church and State will cause permanently a greater
revolution in this country than foreign conquest, I shall use my
utmost energies to defeat these fatal machinations.
It was, therefore, in Disraeli's view, essential that the
Church of England should collect her powers for resistance.
As a layman who had taken an active part in diocesan affairs,
he appealed to his Bishop, the energetic Samuel Wilberforce,
to give a lead to the clergy. ' What is the mot d'ordre to
the diocese? ' he asked on April 15. It would be very un-
wise of the High Church clergy, he maintained, to let their
1 The exaggerated ecclesiastic! am of this method of dating his letter
exposed Disraeli to deserved criticism. Always an artist on the public
stage, he sometimes over-dressed his part.
26 THE IBISH CHURCH [OHAP. i
imperfect sympathy with ' a Calvinistic branch of the es-
tablishment ' neutralise their action, as ' the fate of the
Established Church will depend upon the opinion of the
country as it is directed, formed, and organised during the
next eight months.' 1 The Bishop had been much discom-
posed at his friend Gladstone's new move, which he attri-
buted to ' the unconscious influence of his restlessness in
being out of office ' ; and, in response to Disraeli's appeal,
he set himself vigorously to work both in his diocese and in
the Church at large, and took a prominent part in a great
Church meeting of protest in St. James's Hall in May.
In this Churchmen of all parties joined : Archbishop Long-
ley with Dean Stanley, Bishop Tait with Bishop Wilber-
force. Spofforth, the Conservative organiser, told Disraeli
that the meeting was an unmeasured success, and would
rouse the Protestant party throughout the country; but
Shaftesbury, with more discernment, warned him that it
was a failure. ' It was one mass of clergy with a sprinkling
of peers. . . . The time is gone by when the country could
be be-bishoped and be-duked on public matters. Unless you
can get a mighty body of laity, bankers, lawyers, merchants,
shipbuilders, etc.' The Liberal party, seldom behindhand
in agitation, had taken the lead in organising great gather-
ings throughout the country in Gladstone's support, begin-
ning with a meeting in London over which Russell presided ;
and it was manifest that the new policy had an increasing
volume of public opinion behind it.
The large majority by which Gladstone had carried his
motion against the resistance of the Government placed
Ministers in a difficult situation. If that majority were
maintained when the Resolutions were moved in detail,
resignation or dissolution would in ordinary circumstances
be inevitable. The circumstances, however, were not ordi-
nary. Parliament had passed sentence of death upon itself
by accepting a policy of Reform ; but the policy was as yet
incompletely carried out, as only the English Bill had be-
i Life of Bishop Wilberforce, Vol. HI., p. 245.
1868] DISSOLUTION OK KESIGNATION? 27
come law, and the Irish and Scottish Bills were still under
consideration. Moreover, when they were passed, some
months would be required to draw up the new registers and
bring them into operation. It was not reasonable to permit
a moribund Parliament to decide without reference to the
country a question of vital importance unexpectedly thrust
upon its attention. On the other hand, it was absurd to
dissolve at once and appeal to the old constituencies; and
it was doubtful whether the new constituencies could be
properly created before 1869. Strong influences were at
work to prevent what apparently most of the Liberals ex-
pected and desired namely, resignation. Derby advised
against it. The Queen would not hear of it, and expressed
herself strongly in that sense in a private talk with Derby
on the very morning of the initial vote.
From Lord Derby.
Most Confidential. ST. JAMES'S SQUARE, April 3, 1868. I
would not have troubled you with a letter when I know how
much your thoughts must be engaged, had I not thought that
you would like to hear that the Queen, who has honoured me
this morning with a visit of near an hour, spoke in most un-
reserved terms of condemnation of Gladstone's motion and con-
duct ; and on my venturing to refer to the precedent of 1835, and
the corresponding motion, and saying that its only result had
been to turn out the Government, H. M. exclaimed with great
emphasis, ' It shall not have that effect now ! ' I took on my-
self to say that I had strongly urged you, in the event of de-
feat, not to think of resigning, to which H.M. answered ' Quite
right/ ... 'i
Disraeli, ever a fighter, agreed with Derby and the Queen ;
but several members of the Cabinet, of whom Hardy was
the most prominent, were reluctant to sanction a course
which would involve Ministers, in Hardy's words, ' in in-
extricable difficulties. The Opposition,' he wrote in his
diary, 'has tasted blood, and will bully and endeavour to
control us, so as to place us in minorities constantly, and
impede any legislation in our own sense.' During the
28 THE IRISH CHURCH [CHAP, i
Easter recess the Queen entertained at Windsor not only
Disraeli, but also Hardy and Cairns, and impressed her
view very strongly upon them all. Hardy wrote to Disraeli,
April 5 : 'I have been much struck by the dread which
the Queen expresses of Gladstone and his scheme. The
Coronation Oath weighs upon her mind. She thinks she
should be relieved of it legislatively with her own consent,
before being called upon to agree to the destruction of the
Church of Ireland. . . . The Queen is, as you say, ex-
traordinarily friendly, and anxious not to have a change.'
Disraeli, after his visit, wrote to Cairns on April 8 : i The
Queen is in a state of considerable excitement and deter-
mination about the present state of affairs, which she looks
upon as very grave, tho' sanguine that the country will
rally to sound views.'
Before the recess concluded Disraeli had another audience
of Her Majesty on the question, and on the resumption of
Parliament, in anticipation of the forthcoming debate on
the first Resolution, obtained the general sanction of the
Cabinet to a policy of dissolution in preference to resigna-
tion.
To Lord Cairns.
Secret. 10, DOWNING STREET, April 22, 1868. I shall open
the Cabinet to-day by giving the result of my audience last
Thursday at Windsor.
I shall indicate what I think is the duty of the Cabinet as
regards themselves and their party, and then, by Her Majesty's
especial desire and command, I shall refer to their duty, under
the circumstances, to the Queen personally.
When I have finished I shall request your opinion, and the
Queen hopes that you will confirm, from your personal experience,
the accuracy of my statement as to Her Majesty's views. She
expects the same from Mr. Secy. Hardy, and for the same reason ;
but I shall appeal to you first, not only because you are my princi-
pal colleague, but because there is only one black sheep in the
Cabinet, the Duke of M[arlborough] and as he sits far from you,
he will be governed by the numerous opinions that will precede
his own.
GATHORNE HARDY, FIRST VISCOUNT CRANBROOK.
From a portrait by W. E. Miller, at Hughenden.
1868] THE QUEEN'S COUNSEL TO DISKAELI 29
From Queen Victoria.
OSBORNE, April 22, 1868. The Queen received yesterday Mr.
Disraeli's letter, and thanks him very much for his full explana-
tion of the course which the Government propose to recommend
to her when Mr. Gladstone's first Resolution shall be affirmed.
The Queen has always believed that that question, which has
been so unseasonably raised, cannot be settled without an appeal
to the country, and her Government may depend upon her support
in any measures which may appear to her calculated to effect
that settlement in a satisfactory manner.
But as Mr. Disraeli postpones any specific recommendation till
the division on Mr. Gladstone's motion shall have taken place,
the Queen will only say now that any recommendation she may
then receive from her Government shall have her careful and
anxious consideration. She would, however, press upon Mr.
Disraeli the importance of his not ' feeling,' as he expresses it,
' for the opinion of the House,' as to the proper time for appealing
to the country, but that her Government should consider this
for themselves, and announce the decision which they may think
it right to submit to the Queen in a manner that shall show no
hesitation or doubt as to the policy they mean to pursue.
Disraeli had some reason for thinking that, in spite of
the violent outcry of many Liberals and the Liberal press
for an immediate change of Government, Gladstone and the
more responsible leaders recognised the advisability of wait-
ing for the result of the appeal to the new constituencies.
He wrote to Hardy on the 23rd : ' Gladstone, instead of
wishing to upset us, has no Cabinet ready, and, tho' sanguine
as to his future, is, at present, greatly embarrassed. He
wishes to build us a golden bridge, and if we announce a
bona fide attempt to wind up, he would support Bills to
extend the time of registration, which would be necessi-
tated by the passing of the Scotch and Irish Bills.' He
added that ' the commercial Liberals . . . look with the
greatest alarm to Lord Russell's return to the F.O., or
even that of Ld. Clarendon. They think the peace of Eu-
rope depends upon Stanley's remaining. I am assured that
there never was a moment in which a want of confidence vote
had a worse chance.'
30 THE IRISH CHURCH [CHAP, i
The debate on Gladstone's first and main Eesolution, that
the Irish Church should cease to exist as an establishment,
was carried over three nights, 1 but added little to the ex-
haustive arguments urged during the preliminary stage.
Gladstone was able to show that the policy of joint en-
dowment tentatively advanced by Disraeli was repudiated
by other leading Conservatives, and that accordingly the
only alternative to disestablishment was a course of pro-
crastination. Disraeli's main point was that to carry the
Resolution would, on the one hand, shake the principle of
property throughout the kingdom, and, on the other, im-
pair our security for religious liberty and civil rights by
tampering with the royal supremacy.
The absence of a practicable alternative made a strong
impression, and the majority increased to 65, 330 voting
for the Resolution and only 265 against. Disraeli imme-
diately moved the adjournment on the ground that the
vote had altered the relation between the Government and
the House ; and proceeded on the next morning 2 to Os-
borne to tender to the Queen the advice which, in general
terms, the Cabinet had agreed upon in the previous week.
As the course to be followed had already been concerted
with Her Majesty, there was no difficulty in obtaining her
consent; but she very properly desired that her Minister's
advice and her own answer should be formally recorded
in writing.
To Queen Victoria.
[May 1, 1868.] The division of this morning in the House
of Commons, by which at half-past two o'clock a.m. Mr. Glad-
stone carried a Resolution for the disestablishment of the Irish
Church by a majority of sixty-five, renders it necessary to call
your Majesty's attention to the position of your Majesty's Govern-
ment.
About two years ago Lord Derby undertook the management
of your Majesty's affairs in a Parliament elected under the
influence of his opponents, and in which there was a Liberal
majority certainly exceeding seventy.
i April 27, 28, and 30. * Friday, May 1.
1868] DISRAELI'S ADVICE TO THE QUEEN 31
In the spirit of the Constitution he might have advised your
Majesty to dissolve this Parliament, and, in the broken state
of the Liberal party at that moment, perhaps not without success.
But considering that the Parliament had been so recently elected
he resolved to attempt to conduct affairs without that appeal. In
the following year he had to encounter the Reform question under
peculiar difficulties, and he succeeded in carrying a large measure
on a subject which had for a long series of years baffled all states-
men and all parties.
Lord Derby would naturally have advised your Majesty to
dissolve Parliament at the close of last year, had there not been
some Bills supplementary to the Reform Bill, which time pre-
vented carrying, but the principle of all which had been sanc-
tioned by the House of Commons.
Was there anything in the general conduct of affairs by your
Majesty's present Government which should have deterred them
from this appeal to the opinion of the nation?
The conduct of affairs has never been impugned during these
two years in any department; on the contrary, in every depart-
ment it has been commended by their opponents. On the grounds,
therefore, that they assumed office in a large and avowed minority
in a House of Commons elected by their opponents; that they
succeeded in passing the Reform Act; that their policy has been
never impugned, but has been entirely accepted, they would be
acting only in the spirit of the Constitution, were they to advise
your Majesty to dissolve Parliament.
In this state of affairs, while attempting to wind up the session
and pass the supplementary Reform Bills, Mr. Gladstone at a
few days' notice introduces a policy to disestablish the Church
in Ireland.
The objections of your Majesty's Government to this measure
are very grave.
1. It is a retrograde policy, and would destroy the effect of
thirty years of conciliation.
2. It shakes property to the centre.
3. It dissolves for the first time the connection between Govern-
ment and religion.
And fourthly and chiefly in their opinion it introduces a
principle which must sooner or later, and perhaps much sooner
than is anticipated, be applied to England, where the effects
must be of a most serious consequence.
The Church will become either an Imperium in Imperio more
powerful than the State, or it will break into sects and schisms
and ultimately be absorbed by the tradition and discipline of
32 THE IRISH CHURCH [CHAP. I
the Church of Rome ; and the consequence will be that the Queen's
supremacy, the security for our religious liberty, and, in no
slight degree, for our civil rights, will be destroyed. In fact,
this will be a revolution, and an entire subversion of the English
Constitution.
Is the fact that this policy has been sanctioned, perhaps heed-
lessly, by the House of Commons a reason for not appealing to
the nation? Your Majesty's Ministers humbly think not, and
that no satisfactory settlement can be arrived at without such
an appeal.
Under these circumstances the advice they would humbly
offer your Majesty is to dissolve this Parliament as soon as the
public interests will permit, and that an earnest endeavor should
be made by the Government that such appeal should be made to
the new constituency.
In offering your Majesty this advice your Majesty's Ministers
would most dutifully state that if your Majesty thought the
question could be more satisfactorily settled, and the public
interest best consulted, by the immediate retirement of your
Majesty's present Ministers from your Majesty's service, they
would at once place their resignations in your Majesty's hands,
with only one feeling of gratitude to your Majesty for your
Majesty's constant support to them in their arduous duties, which
has always encouraged and often assisted them.
From Queen Victoria.
OSBORNE, May 2, 1868. The Queen has given her most serious
consideration to Mr. Disraeli's letter, and cannot hesitate, as she
has already verbally informed him, to sanction the dissolution of
Parliament, under the circumstances stated by him, in order that
the opinion of the country may be deliberately expressed on the
important question which has been brought into discussion.
The Queen admits the correctness of Mr. Disraeli's statement
of the circumstances under which Lord Derby undertook the
Government in the first instance, and Mr. Disraeli has since
continued to carry it on.
She has frequently had occasion to express her satisfaction at
the zeal and ability with which the several departments of her
Government have been administered; and while her Ministers
have done nothing to forfeit the confidence she has hitherto
reposed in them, she cannot think of having recourse to the
alternative which Mr. Disraeli has placed before her, of accepting
their resignations, till the sense of the country shall have been
taken on a question which, [it] is admitted on all hands, cannot
be settled in the present Parliament.
1868] DISCONTENT IN THE CABINET 33
It will be seen that, while an alternative tender was made
of resignation, the advice given to the Queen was to dis-
solve Parliament ' as soon as the public interests will per-
mit,' coupled with a suggestion that, in the event of dissolu-
tion, Ministers should make l an earnest endeavour ' to
ensure that the appeal should be made to the new con-
stituency; and that the Queen's reply was to refuse to ac-
cept resignation, but l to sanction the dissolution of Parlia-
ment, under the circumstances stated,' without making
any distinction between the old constituency and the new.
Disraeli had gone to the Queen without calling a Cabinet,
relying on the general assent which his colleagues had given
ten days before to a policy of dissolution rather than resigna-
tion. This somewhat highhanded departure from precedent
was naturally resented. ( Disraeli has communicated with
none of us, which is strange,' wrote Hardy mildly in his
diary. Malmesbury, more roundly, noted : ' The Min-
isters are very angry with Disraeli for going to the Queen
without calling a Cabinet, and the Duke of Marlborough
wants to resign, but I have done all I could to dissuade him
from this course.' The Duke, it will be remembered, was
described by Disraeli, in writing to Cairns, as a * black
sheep ' on this question. It is evident from the entries in
Hardy's diary, and especially one on May 6 (' A Cabinet
before Osborne would have altered everything, but now? '),
that Disraeli avoided a preliminary Cabinet because he had
good reason to fear that his colleagues would weaken in
their resolution now that the moment for action had arrived,
but might be trusted to accept a fait accompli. He re-
turned from Osborne on the Saturday evening, May 2, saw
on the Sunday two of the colleagues upon whom he prin-
cipally relied, Cairns and Hardy, and perhaps others, and
explained to them what had passed with the Queen. Hardy
greatly doubted, and had a strong personal longing for
resignation ; 1 Cairns expressed agreement with his chief ;
i In 1889, on reconsideration of the whole position, Hardy wrote :
' Looking back, I doubt if we could have done otherwise than we did '
(Gathorne Hardy, Vol. I., p. 273).
34 THE IRISH CHURCH [CHAP, i
and the Cabinet next day endorsed, though with consider-
able hesitation, the bill which the Prime Minister had drawa
upon its confidence.
A course which had only with difficulty been accepted by
Disraeli's colleagues could hardly be expected to commend
itself offhand to the Liberal majority in the House of Com-
mons. Disraeli's recital of the successsful conduct of af-
fairs by Ministers since 1866, his justification by precedent
of the constitutionality of government by a minority, his
withdrawal of protracted opposition to the remaining Reso-
lutions, and his promise to expedite public business so that
the dissolution might take place in the autumn, did not
prevent the Opposition from using, in Hardy's words,
' plenty of unpleasant language ' about the advice which
Ministers had tendered to the Queen. Gladstone protested
angrily against a penal dissolution, though, in view of
Disraeli's readiness to facilitate debate on the remaining
Resolutions, he did not persist in his announced motion
to take the conduct of public business into his own hands.
Lowe said that Parliament was asked to give a ten months'
lease of office to Ministers whom it did not trust; Ayrton
and Bouverie denounced Disraeli for bringing the Crown
into conflict with the Commons; Bright said that it was
merely for the sake of prolonging his own term of office that
Disraeli was making this outrageous demand on the in-
dulgence of Parliament. Disraeli, in reply, pointed out
that, while he was ready to make all arrangements for an
appeal to the new constituency in November, the Queen's
permission to dissolve was unqualified, without any refer-
ence to old or new constituencies ; and he challenged the Op-
position to give Parliamentary effect to their taunts by
moving a vote of want of confidence.
The challenge, as Disraeli expected, was not taken up.
However ready the Liberal leaders might be to insult and
to bluster, and their followers to annoy Ministers by put-
ting them in a minority on this question and on that, the
general sense of the House was that fap Government
1868] EXASPERATION OF THE OPPOSITION 35
had passed Reform should remain in office to complete its
work, and to pass the supplementary measures necessary to
secure at the earliest possible date an appeal to the new con-
stituency. The very reasonableness of this view only served
to exasperate Gladstone and his friends ; and for several days
they kept recurring to Disraeli's statements about his audi-
ences of the Queen and the advice he had given her, suggest-
ing supposed discrepancies and denouncing supposed im-
proprieties. One such occasion is described in the following
letter:
To the Duke of Richmond.
CARLTON CLUB, May 5, 1868. Mr. Gladstone, 1 to-night, without
giving me any notice whatever, called on me to explain what he
described as a discrepancy in our statements as to the Queen's
declaration in my audience at Osborne.
Had he been courteous enough to give me the usual notice, I
could have had the opportunity of conferring with your Grace,
and learning from yourself what you had stated, instead of being
referred to the mere extract of an alleged report in a newspaper.
All that I could do, therefore, was to repeat what Her Majesty
had been pleased to declare, and to add, that if there were any
discrepancy in our statements, as I was the Minister, who had
waited on Her Majesty, it seemed to me, that the inquiry ought
rather to be made in the House of Lords, than to myself.
I write this note, that your Grace should not suppose, that
I hesitated to defend, or support, an absent colleague : but under
the circumstances of the case, having had no notice from Mr.
Gladstone, and having no evidence that the alleged quotation
was authentic, I thought it best to take a course wh. suspended
all judgment on the question.
Another occasion arose on the motion of a Liberal mem-
ber condemning the policy of making any public grants
whatever in Ireland to religious bodies, such as the Regium
Donum to Presbyterians, or the Maynooth grant and the
proposed University endowment for Roman Catholics. A
warm discussion sprang up, chiefly among Liberal members
themselves; and Ayrton, whose unconciliatory and over-
bearing demeanour in office was subsequently to bring dis-
i ' In a white heat,' noted Hardy in his diary.
36 THE IRISH CHURCH [CHAP. I
credit upon Gladstone's first Administration, commented
severely upon the absence of the Leader of the House dur-
ing the debate. Disraeli, who arrived during Ayrton's
lecture, made the characteristic excuse that there had been,
as he anticipated, a quarrel among gentlemen opposite over
the plunder of the Irish Church, and that it was not his duty
to give an opinion on the subject. This sneer seems to have
caused Bright to lose all command over himself, and to use
language which necessarily brought to an end the uncon-
ventional but undoubted private friendship which had ex-
isted between him and Disraeli for twenty years. Bright
had been falling under the spell of Gladstone's influence, and
apparently was ready now to regard Disraeli through his
rival's eyes. This is what he permitted himself to say :
The right hon. gentleman the other night, with a mixture of
pompousness and sometimes of servility, talked at large of the
interviews which he had had with his Sovereign. I venture to
say that a Minister who deceives his Sovereign is as guilty as
the conspirator who would dethrone her. I do not charge the
right hon. gentleman with deceiving his Sovereign. But if he
has not changed the opinions which he held twenty-five years
ago, and which in the main he said, only a few weeks ago, were
right, then I fear he has not stated all that it was his duty to
state in the interviews which he had with his Sovereign. Let
me tell hon. gentlemen opposite, and the right hon. gentleman
in particular, that any man in this country who puts the Sov-
ereign in the front of a great struggle like this into which it may
be we are about to enter who points to the Irish people and
says from the floor of this House, ' your Queen holds the flag
under which we, the enemies of religious equality and justice
to Ireland, are marshalled ' I say the Minister who does that
is guilty of a very high crime and a great misdemeanour against
his Sovereign and against his country; and there is no honour,
there is no reputation, there is no glory, there is no future name
that any Minister can gain by conduct like this, which will
acquit him to posterity of one of the most grievous offences
against his country which a Prime Minister can possibly commit.
it was an outrageous attack, and was suitably answered
by Disraeli. Observers differed as to whether he was
deeply moved or whether he merely spoke with quiet scorn.
1868] DISKAELI AND BKIGHT 37
Lord Ronald Gower tells us that ' Dizzy quite lost his
temper and shook his fist at Bright ' ; but Malmesbury's
record is that the Prime Minister l replied in the most gen-
tlemanlike manner, and was cheered by both sides of the
House.'
I shall not condescend to notice at length the observations of
the hon. member for Birmingham. He says that, when it was
my duty to make a communication to the House, of the greatest
importance, and which I certainly wished to make as I hope
I did make it in a manner not unbecoming the occasion, I was
at once pompous and servile. Well, sir, if it suits the heat of
party acrimony to impute such qualities to me, any gentleman
may do so ; but I am in the memory and in the feeling of gentle-
men on both sides of the House and fortunately there are
gentlemen on both sides of this House; they will judge of the
accuracy of this representation of my conduct. It is to their
feeling and to their sentiment on both sides of the House that I
must appeal; and no words of mine, if the charge be true, can
vindicate me. The hon. gentleman says that he will make no
charge against me; and then he makes insinuations which, if he
believes them, he ought to bring forth boldly as charges. I defy
the hon. member, for Birmingham, notwithstanding his stale
invective, to come down to the House and substantiate any charge
of the kind which he has presumed only to insinuate. Let him
prefer those charges; I will meet him; and I will appeal to the
verdict only of gentlemen who sit on the same side of the House
as himself.
This challenge, it need hardly be added, was not met,
any more than the challenge to bring forward a vote of
censure had been met. But the stream of calumny in the
House, on the platform, and in the press, flowed on un-
abated. It was the cue of many Liberals to treat Disraeli
as being capable of any trickery and of any breach of con-
stitutional usage. When therefore Gladstone's second and
third Resolutions had passed, the one suspending Irish ec-
clesiastical appointments, the other praying the Queen to
place her interest in the temporalities at the disposal of
Parliament, the absurd suggestion was made that Disraeli
was likely to advise the Queen to set herself in antagonism
38 THE IKISH CHTJKCH [CHAP, i
to the House of Commons by returning an unfavourable
answer to the third Resolution.
From General the Hon. Charles Grey.
OSBORNE, May 5, 1868. . . . Her Majesty hears with much
satisfaction what you say of the favourable prospects in the
House of Commons; and trusts that your expectation of being
able to surmount the difficulties still before you may be realised.
She is very anxious to hear what you propose to advise her as
to the answer to the Address which is the object of the third
Resolution. The Times assumes that the ' Suspensory Bill '
" which the Address will ask the Queen to allow to be introduced,
will certainly be thrown out in the House of Lords. This would
place the H. of Lords in a position of antagonism to the House
of Commons from which, in H.M.'s opinion, they ought, if pos-
sible, to be saved. Yet, after all that has passed, it seems difficult
for the Govt. to advise the Queen to refuse the request of the
Commons.
Could Her Majesty, without refusing it (on the contrary,
expressing her anxiety to act with her Parliament in any measures
calculated to give satisfaction to her Irish subjects), not require
that, in a matter which cannot be settled without the concurrence
of the House of Lords, the Address should be agreed to by both
Houses? . . .
Disraeli was too shrewd even to endorse this not unrea-
sonable suggestion to withhold an answer to the Address
till it had been adopted by both Houses; and the answer
which, after special consultation with Cairns and Hardy, he
settled in Cabinet stated that Her Majesty desired that her
interest in the Irish temporalities should not stand in the
way of the consideration by Parliament of legislation in the
current sessions. Gladstone promptly introduced his Sus-
pensory Bill, and the second reading was carried on May
22 by a majority of fifty-four, after a debate in which the
Opposition leader insisted that the choice lay between a
system of concurrent endowment such as had been hinted
at by the Government and the general disendowment which
he himself proposed to effect by repealing the Maynooth Act
and discontinuing the Regium Donum to Presbyterians, as
well as by disestablishing and disendowing the Church of
1868] CONCURRENT ENDOWMENT 39
Ireland. Disraeli was hampered, in his reply, by the dis-
favour with which the policy of concurrent endowment had
been received by his own party and by the country. He
accordingly minimised the extent to which the Government
had committe_d themselves to it He denied that their Uni-
versity proposals amounted to endowment, or that they con-
templated paying the Roman Catholic clergy or increasing
the Regium Donum. The logical position of Disraeli and
his Government was necessarily much weakened by this
public deprecation of the only alternative policy; a policy,
moreover, which he favoured himself and which had the
historical support of a succession of British statesmen from
Pitt and .Castlereagh down to Russell, who had only aban-
doned it that year. He had to fall back, as his main argu-
ment, on the resulting danger to the Church of England. ' I
say this act is the first step to the disestablishment of the
English Church.' The correctness of this view has recently
received unexpected confirmation from Mr. Birrell, Chief
Secretary for Ireland for many years and no friend of the
Church of England, who has deplored in an important State
paper that the Irish Church was disestablished rather from
a desire to please the Dissenters in England than to do jus-
tice to Ireland. But a practical people like the English
will never be deterred from dealing with a practical and
admitted grievance by apprehension of possible but remote
consequences.
The Suspensory Bill had been pushed forward rather
to show that Gladstone and the Liberals were in earnest than
with any expectation that it would pass into law. Disraeli
having once registered his opposition to it, facilitated its
speedy passage to the Lords, where it was promptly rejected
by a majority of two to one, on the ground that the whole
question should be left without prejudice to the judgment
of the electorate.
From Lord Derby.
ST. JAMES'S SQUARE, May 29, 1868. . . . I think ... I may
congratulate you on being master of the position for the remainder
40 THE IRISH CHURCH [CHAP, i
of the Session, which I presume you will close as soon as you
can. Will you allow me to suggest that, partly to promote that
object, it would be well to let it be understood that you do not
mean further to oppose Gladstone's Suspension Bill. . . . Our
object should be to get it disposed of in the Lords as soon, and
as summarily, as possible. I suggest this for your consideration
as a matter of tactics, of which however you are too great a
master to stand in need of any hint from me. . . .
To Lord Derby.
10, DOWNING STREET, May 30, 1868. I must thank you for
your kind letter, and for your invaluable counsel. I had moved
a little in the direction you advise, and will still further prosecute
that course. . . .
To Charles N. Newdegate.
Confidential. 10, DOWNING ST., May 31, '68. I think it would
be well to consider whether it may not be desirable to place no
further impediments to the passing of the Suspension Bill in the
House of Commons, so that the decision of the House of Lords
may be taken as speedily as possible.
It is probable that the Church Commission will report towards
the end of next month, and if they recommend any modification
of appointments it will be difficult for the Lords to oppose the
Suspension Bill and they will be driven to define and limit its
objects, instead of opposing the second reading: and this the
country will never understand.
No doubt Gladstone sees this chance and will not be in a
hurry to carry his Bill through our House, whereas, in my
opinion, our object should be to get it disposed of in the Lords
as soon, and as summarily, as possible.
I wish you would think over this and give me your opinion.
These letters were written during the Whitsuntide recess,
which roughly corresponded with the close of the great
party struggle of the session. If Disraeli was, as Derby
suggested, ' master of the position ' from that time till the
prorogation, it was largely because he had not only evaded
the snares of his foes, but had also brought his somewhat
distracted Cabinet into harmony and subordination.
To Mrs. Disraeli.
HOUSE OF COMMONS, May 14, '68. I think we have got out of
our danger, but it has been very ticklish.
1868] COROLLARIES OF REFORM 41
May 19, '68. The Cabinet was very satisfactory, and they
signed a paper, projected and headed by the Duke of Richmond,
to stand by me in any advice I should give the Queen on the
great subject. This puts an end to one source of wearing dis-
quietude, namely, the fear that the Cabinet might not stand firm
and united.
The reunited Cabinet utilised the recess to come to an
agreement as to the measure to expedite the new register so
as to make possible a General Election in November and the
summoning of the new Parliament in December. Disraeli
was justifiably anxious that the acceleration should not be
such as to arouse a suspicion in the new constituency e that
there is any design to neutralise the large franchises with
which they have been wisely invested, by hurrying and
hustling them in the establishment of their electoral privi-
leges.' J But Cairns and Hardy were particularly urgent
in pressing for an early date, to maintain the honour of the
Government and to save them from any possible charge of
bad faith ; and their scheme was accepted first by the Cabinet
and then, amid general satisfaction, by Parliament.
This Registration of Voters Bill was one of five measures
which Disraeli carried during this session to complete the
work of Parliamentary Reform. The factiousness of the
Opposition made the progress of the Irish and Scottish Re-
form Bills through the House of Commons a tedious and ag-
gravating business, and Disraeli had need of all his tact
and good temper to bring them safely into port. On the
Scottish Bill, particularly, he was subjected to some annoy-
ing defeats ; but, in pursuance of his acknowledged principle
of acting, in regard to Reform, in co-operation with the
general sense of the House, he accepted the amendments of
the majority with a good grace. The Boundary Bill was
the occasion of further worries. The decisions of the Com-
mission appointed by the Government in 1867 were not
accepted in the House, and were submitted for revision to a
Select Committee presided over by Walpole. The Com-
i Letter to Cairns, dated May 29.
42 THE IRISH CHURCH [CHAP, i
mission enlarged the Parliamentary boundaries of many big
towns, but the Committee restored the old limits ; and Gov-
ernment and Opposition, Lords and Commons, were set by
the ears over the somewhat trivial questions as to which
tribunal's decisions were to be followed, and whether a com-
promise accepted by the Prime Minister in the Commons
was binding on the majority in the Lords. Disraeli repu-
diated the interpretation put by the Opposition on his words ;
but, after the Liberal Peers had adopted the childish ex-
pedient of leaving the House of Lords in a body, Malmes-
bury and the majority gave way.
To Lord Mdlmesbury.
10, DOWNING STREET, July 3, 1868. I have learnt your proceed-
ings in the House of Lords, last night, with astonishment. The
interpretation placed on my words, when speaking of the progress
of business in the House of Commons, is one painfully distorted.
I was answering an enquiry as to the prospects of business in
that House, and in estimating them, I mentioned, that certain
measures, tho' they had not formally passed the House of Com-
mons, might be considered virtually settled : that is to say, would
lead, in the House of Commons, to no further debate or division.
A much more important reform was effected by the Cor-
rupt Practices Bill; and it is to the lasting credit of Dis-
raeli that he removed the trial of election petitions from the
jurisdiction of a partisan Committee of the House of Com-
mons and transferred it to an impartial tribunal consisting
of His Majesty's Judges. In order to carry this simple
and desirable reform he had to overcome many obstacles,
in particular the united protest of the Judges themselves
against the new duties it was proposed to put upon them.
The Bill underwent several changes and, in order to pass,
had to be made experimental in form and duration ; but the
principle was firmly established that irregularities commit-
ted in political elections, like other breaches of the law,
should be investigated and punished by a legal tribunal
and not by a committee of active politicians. A great puri-
fication of public life has resulted from the firm determina-
1863-1868] SUCCESS OF ABYSSINIAN WAK 43
tion of Disraeli and his Government to associate the proper
trial and due punishment of corrupt practices at elections
with the extension of the Parliamentary suffrage.
If Disraeli's Parliamentary course was troubled, the prin-
cipal external venture of his Government was brilliantly
conducted. At the beginning of the very week which wit-
nessed the decisive defeat of Ministers on Gladstone's first
Resolution, there came news of the complete success of the
Abyssinian expedition under the command of Sir Robert
Napier. It was on the morning of Sunday, April 26, and
about 11 o'clock, the present Lord Iddesleigh, on behalf of
his father Northcote, the Secretary of State for India,
brought the intelligence to Disraeli. He found him ' gor-
geously arrayed in a dressing-gown and in imposing head-
gear,' and, as might be expected, l opulent in compliment.' *
The Queen told her Prime Minister that she was t truly de-
lighted at the glorious and satisfactory news from Abys-
sinia, which she thinks must have a favourable effect on the
general position of the Government.' There was, indeed,
universal satisfaction ; and Gladstone joined in the compli-
ments paid, not only to the commander and his gallant
force, but to the Government, and especially the Indian
Secretary, for their prudent conduct of a difficult affair.
For it was a very difficult affair to rescue a British en-
voy and a British consul, who with other captives were im-
prisoned in an impregnable fortress, far inland in a wild
and inhospitable country, by a half-mad and only half-
civilised potentate. Ministers had only with great reluc-
tance accepted the necessity of sending an expedition, Stan-
ley characteristically writing to Disraeli in the autumn of
1866, 'I sincerely hope the W[ar] O[ffice] will find the
country inaccessible. I think they will.' But, as Disraeli
explained when moving the credit of 2,000,000 in Novem-
ber, 1867, they felt that the honour of the Crown and the
duty of the country were involved; that magnanimity and
forbearance had been pushed to extreme limits ; that justice
i Lang's Northcote, p. 194.
44 THE IRISH CHURCH [CHAP. I
could only be had by recourse to arms. None of the numer-
ous little expeditions which England has sent out was ever
more completely successful. The difficult country was
safely penetrated, King Theodore's army was defeated with
insignificant casualties on our side, his citadel Magdala was
stormed, he himself committed suicide, and the prisoners
were duly brought away. Disraeli may be forgiven the slight
touch of pomposity with which, in moving Parliament to
thank the commander and his forces, he dilated on the diffi-
culties overcome and the success attained. Napier, he said,
had to form a base on a desolate shore, to create a road
through a wall of mountains, and to guide his army across
a barren and lofty tableland, intersected with high ranges
and unfathomable ravines ; leading l the elephants of Asia,
bearing the artillery of Europe, over African passes which
might have startled the trapper and appalled the hunter of
the Alps.' Finally our troops ' had to scale a mountain
fortress, of which the intrinsic strength was such that it may
be fairly said it would have been impregnable to the whole
world had it been defended by the man by whom it was
assailed.' Thus it was, said Disraeli, linking modern
achievement with Johnsonian romance, that ' the standard
of St. George was hoisted on the mountains of Rasselas.'
It was not merely for its conduct that the expedition was
remarkable, but for its character. Disraeli pointed out in
November, 1867, that the country was going to war, 'not
to obtain territory, not to secure commercial advantages, but
for high moral causes and for high moral causes alone.'
Accordingly, when the prisoners had been released and
Theodore's capital destroyed, the British force, having ac-
complished its object, completely evacuated, by the orders
of the Ministry, the country which it had successfully in-
vaded. Disraeli naturally congratulated the House and
the country on so unique a spectacle.
When it was first announced that England was about to embark
on a most costly and perilous expedition, merely to vindicate the
honour of our Sovereign, and to rescue from an unjust but
1867-1868] COST versus SUCCESS 45
remote captivity a few of our fellow-subjects, the announcement
was received in more than one country with something like mock-
ing incredulity. But we have asserted the purity of our purpose.
In an age accused, and perhaps not unjustly, of selfishness, and
a too great regard for material interests, it is something, in so
striking and significant a manner, for a great nation to have
vindicated the higher principles of humanity. It is a privilege
to belong to a country which has done such deeds.
Disraeli has been charged with lowering the standard of
British foreign policy by basing it upon British interests
rather than upon public right and justice. The Abysssinian
expedition, which his detractors prefer to ignore, is incon-
testable evidence that he placed public right and justice
high among British interests. The only criticism to which
his policy on this occasion is fairly open is that he under-
rated the cost. Ward Hunt, in his Budget speech, esti-
mated the total at 5,000,000, and raised the income tax
from fourpence to sixpence in order to meet the expense;
but it turned out that nearly as much again was required,
and Gladstone's Chancellor of the Exchequer had in 1869
to provide for meeting the balance of an ascertained total of
9,000,000. The fault seems to have lain mainly with the
Indian Government, who supplied the General and the
troops; but the miscalculation must necessarily detract
somewhat from the credit otherwise due to Disraeli and
his Government. Disraeli himself, in retrospect, treated the
cost as a trifling matter in comparison with the successful
result.
To Lady Bradford.
2, WHITEHALL GARDENS, Oct. 2, 1875. . . . I do not look
back to the Abyssinian [war] with regret: quite the reverse.
It was a noble feat of arms, and highly raised our prestige in the
East. It certainly cost double what was contemplated, and that
is likely to be the case in all wars for wh. I may be responsible.
Money is not to be considered in such matters : success alone is
to be thought of. Abyss, cost 9 mills, or so, instead of 4 or 5
anticipated; but by that expenditure we secured the business
being accomplished in one campaign. Had there been a second
campaign, it wd. probably have been 19 mill, and perhaps failed
46 THE IRISH CHURCH [CHAP, i
from climate, or an abler and more prepared military re-
sistance. . . .
Though Parliament was prorogued at the comparative
early date of July 31, yet once more, in spite of the time
necessarily devoted to the corollaries of Reform, and of the
many days spent on the Irish problem and Gladstone's new
policy, there was a good harvest of other legislation. The
Queen's Speech enumerated as having passed t Bills for the
better government of public schools, the regulation of rail-
ways, the amendment of the law relating to British sea
fisheries, and for the acquisition and maintenance of electric
telegraphs by the Postmaster-General, and several important
measures having for their object the improvement of the
law and of the civil and criminal procedure in Scotland.'
A small measure, which was not mentioned, was the Act
which abolished, none too soon, the degrading practice of
public execution. The purchase of the telegraphs was a
question to which Disraeli had paid special attention. To
transfer the working of so essential a public service to the
State was undoubtedly a great public benefit ; but the price
paid to the telegraph companies was so high, and popular
pressure for cheap messages so persistent, that the transac-
tion has never yielded the profit to the State which those
who effected it contemplated. The educational bill upon
which the Cabinet had been closely engaged at the begin-
ning of the year l did not get beyond a second reading in
the House of Lords, where it was introduced by the Lord
President, the Duke of Marlborough. It had the great
merit of recognising the importance and dignity of education
by constituting a comprehensive education department under
a Cabinet Minister, a reform which Disraeli had advocated
in 1855 2 but which Parliament did not accept till 1899,
and it provided an effective conscience clause ; but Ministers
hesitated to introduce the principle of a rate, without which
a general system could hardly be established. It was a
i See Vol. IV., ch. 16. 2 See Vol. IV. ch. 2.
1868] QUEEN'S SYMPATHY AND SUPPORT 47
measure, in Disraeli's words, ' preliminary, but of magni-
tude ' ; but there was no time to consider it, and the whole
question, as he anticipated, was left over to the next Parlia-
ment.
Through all the troubles and worries of this spring and
summer Disraeli was greatly cheered and supported by the
constant sympathy and encouragement of the Queen. Her
Majesty considered that her Minister's conduct and the
advice he had given her at the time of the crisis were per-
fectly correct and constitutional; and she was disgusted
with what she held to be the factious and unworthy treat-
ment which he received at the hands of the Opposition.
The relations between Sovereign and Minister, which were
eventually to become so intimate, were drawn very per-
ceptibly closer during this May and June. The Queen
began that practice of sending Disraeli spring flowers, which
was a constant mark of their later relationship, and which
has resulted in the permanent association of his name and
memory with the primrose; and he, whose official letters to
his Sovereign had always sounded a strongly individual and
personal note, was encouraged to develop this tendency and
entertain Her Majesty by such correspondence as he alone
was able to write. Lady Augusta Stanley told Clarendon
at this time that ( Dizzy writes daily letters to the Queen in
his best novel style, telling her every scrap of political news
dressed up to serve his own purpose, and every scrap of
social gossip cooked to amuse her. She declares that she
has never had such letters in her life, which is probably true,
and that she never before knew everything ! ' l
Princess Christian to Mrs. Disraeli.
May 12. Mama desires me to ... send you the accompany-
ing flowers in her name for Mr. Disraeli. She heard him say one
day that he was so fond of may and of all those lovely spring
flowers that she has ventured to send him these, as they will make
his rooms look so bright. The flowers come from Windsor.
i Letter from Clarendon to Lady Salisbury. Maxwell's Clarendon,
Vol. II.. p. 346.
48 THE IKISH CHURCH [CHAP, i
Mrs. Disraeli to Princess Christian.
... I performed the most pleasing office which I ever had to
fulfil in obeying Her Majesty's commands. Mr. Disraeli is pas-
sionately fond of flowers, and their lustre and perfume were
enhanced by the condescending hand which had showered upon
him all the treasures of spring.
From Queen Victoria.
May 14. The Queen was glad to hear how very warmly Mr.
Disraeli was received yesterday. It is very significant. The
Queen trusts that the debate to-night * will be satisfactory, tho'
Mr. Disraeli told her he had anticipated the worst.
WINDSOR CASTLE, May 16, 1868. The Queen is most thankful
to Mr. Disraeli for his very kind and feeling letter. She feels
most deeply when others do sympathise as he does with her;
Mr. Disraeli has at all times shown the greatest consideration
for her feelings. . . .
The Queen sends by this evening's messenger a few more flowers
for Mr. Disraeli.
BALMORAL, May 21. The Queen was very sorry to hear from
Mr. Disraeli what an unsatisfactory night they had on Monday. 2
She feels very anxious to hear what course they intend to
pursue, but trusts that this as well as other difficulties will be
got over, and this annoying Session soon be brought to an
end. . . .
May 23. . . . Keally there never was such conduct as that
of the Opposition.
May 25. The Queen thanks Mr. Disraeli for several kind
letters. . . .
The Queen is really shocked at the way in which the House of
Commons go on; they really bring discredit on Constitutional
Government. The Queen hopes and trusts, however, that to-day's
division will be satisfactory and then there will be quiet.
The sooner the Dissolution can take place the better. . . .
June 6. The Queen thanks Mr. Disraeli very much for his
kind, long letter. She hopes all will go smoothly. She regrets
however the acrimonious discussion respecting the letter 3 which
she wishes could have been avoided. This personal bitterness
1 On the Boundary Bill.
2 When the Government were defeated in important division on the
Scotch Reform Bill.
3 Gladstone had written a letter imputing to the Government a
policy of concurrent endowment.
1868] 'WE AUTHOES, MA'AM.' 49
in politics is a bad thing, and if possible should be prevented.
But alas ! it is often impossible.
The Queen trusts the Session will speedily be got to an end,
for it is sure to be disagreeable as long as it lasts. . . .
June 21. . . . Most grateful to Mr. Disraeli for the gift of
his novels, which she values much.
It was particularly tactful and appropriate of Disraeli
to present the Queen with his novels, as Her Majesty had
herself entered the ranks of authorship in the beginning of
the year by publishing Leaves from the Journal of our Life
in the Highlands. There was thus a fresh link between the
Minister and his royal mistress, which so accomplished a
courtier could hardly fail to turn to good account. There
is no reason to doubt the story which represents him as using
more than once, in conversation with Her Majesty on liter-
ary subjects, the words : * We authors, Ma'am.'
To Arthur Helps.
[January, 1868]. I am most obliged to you for sending me a
copy, and an early one, of the royal volume.
I read it last night and with unaffected interest. Its vein is
innocent and vivid; happy in picture and touched with what I
ever think is the characteristic of our royal mistress grace.
There is a freshness and fragrance about the book like the
heather amid which it was written.
They say that truth and tact are not easily combined: I
never believed so; and you have proved the contrary; for you
have combined them in your preface, and that's why I like
it.
The Queen was far from well in the spring of 1868. She
informed Disraeli in May that the anxiety and worry of the
last two or three years were beginning to tell on her health
and nerves; that she often feared she would be unable
physically to go on ; and that she felt the necessity of rest
in a pure and bracing air. A visit to Switzerland was ac-
cordingly arranged; and the Queen, travelling as Countess
of Kent, left England at the beginning of August. She
passed through Paris, where a slight contretemps occurred
50 THE IRISH CHURCH [CHAP, i
which gave Disraeli an opportunity of showing how tactfully
he could offer somewhat unwelcome advice.
To Lord Cairns.
Private. HUGHENDEN, August 11, 1868. . . . I heard from
Lucerne to-day. Our Peeress is very happy and, as yet, quite
delighted. Her house is on a high hill, above the town, with a
splendid view over the lake; the air fine, the rooms large, lofty,
cool. There has been rain and there is a grim world.
The gentlemen of the suite don't like the hill ; facilis descensus,
but the getting back will be awful. Stanley has not yet arrived,
but he likes hills ; a member of your Alpine Club.
There was a sort of Fenian outrage at Paris; one O'Brien, a
teacher of languages, shook his stick at Princess Louise, and
shouted ' A has les Anglais,' and some other stuff. The Queen
was not there.
I fear, between ourselves, the greater outrage was that our dear
Peeress did not return the visit of the Empress. This is to be
deplored, particularly as they had named a Boulevard after her,
and she went to see it ! ...
To Queen Victoria,.
10, DOWNING STREET [August, 1868]. . . . There is no doubt
that your Majesty acted quite rightly in declining to return the
visit of the Empress at Paris. Such an act on your Majesty's
part would have been quite inconsistent with the incognito as-
sumed by your Majesty, for a return visit to a Sovereign is an
act of high etiquette: which incognito is invented to guard
against.
Nevertheless there is, Mr. Disraeli would ask permission to
observe, perhaps no doubt that your Majesty was scarcely well
advised in receiving the visit, as such a reception was equally
inconsistent with incognito.
Certain persons, M. de Fleury notably among them, made a
great grievance of the visit not being returned, but Mr. Disraeli
hoped the matter would have blown over and been forgotten. The
Empress, who is far from irrational, was not at first by any means
disposed to take M. de Fleury's view, but everybody persists in
impressing on her she has been treated with incivility ; and there
is no doubt that it has ended by the French Court being sore.
Mr. Disraeli thought it his duty to lay his matter before
your Majesty; as your Majesty perhaps on your return, with
your Majesty's happy judgment, might by some slight act grace'
fully dissipate this malaise.
1868] VISIT TO BALMORAL 51
It was not found possible to arrange to make the return
visit as the Countess of Kent passed through Paris on her
way back to England; but Lady Ely wrote to Disraeli:
1 The Queen desires me to tell you that H.M. has written to
the Empress herself to express all her regrets, but to say
H.M. has given up paying visits now and had declined go-
ing to her own relations, but hoped at some future time when
she passed through Paris to call and see the Empress.'
Immediately upon her return to this country, Her Ma-
jesty commanded Disraeli's presence for ten days at Bal-
moral, where he had never before been Minister in attend-
ance. Mrs. Disraeli did not accompany him, and he kept
her fully informed of his doings and experiences.
To Mrs. Disraeli.
PEBTH, Sept. 18, '68:
MY DARLING WIFE, I telegraphed to you this morning, that
all was well. Within an hour of this place, where we ought to
have arrived a little after eleven o'clock, it was signalled that
something had gone wrong with a goods train, and that the road
was blocked up: and we had to sit in the dark for two hours
and more! However, this was better than being smashed.
Everything, otherwise, has gone very well.
You provided for me so admirably and so judiciously, that I
had two sumptuous meals: a partridge breakfast, and a chicken
and tongue dinner: and plenty of good wine! I did not slumber
on the road, but had a very good night here, and have got up
early, quite refreshed, to send you a telegram, and write a few
letters, this particularly, which you will get to-morrow.
There was a great mob at Carlisle who cheered me very much,
but I profited by our experience during our Edinbro' visit, and
would not get out: so they assembled on the platform round the
carriage. It was an ordeal of ten minutes : I bowed to them and
went on reading; but was glad when the train moved.
I was greatly distressed at our separation, and when I woke
this morning, did not know where I was. Nothing but the
gravity of public life sustains me under a great trial, which no
one can understand except those who live on the terms of entire
affection and companionship like ourselves: and, I believe, they
are very few.
Write to me every day, if it is only a line to tell me how you
are; but you, with your lively mind and life, will be able to tell
52 THE IRISH CHURCH [CHAP, i
me a great deal more. Montagu [Corry] will have discovered
by this time the best mode of communication. The Queen's
messenger goes every day by the same train I did 10 o'clock
Euston. Adieu, with a thousand embraces, my dearest, dearest
wife. D.
BALMORAL CASTLE, Sept. 19, '68. Arrived here last night, %
past nine; the household at dinner. The Queen sent a consider-
ate message, that I need not dress, but I thought it best, as I
was tired and dusty, not to appear: particularly as I found some
important letters from Stanley on my table. They served me a
capital little dinner in my room, and I had a very good night.
. .'i I thought it right to appear at breakfast to-day, as I had
not presented myself last night.
Lady Churchill in attendance and Miss Lascelles, and Lord
Bridport, etc., etc.
Bridport told me that I need not wear frock coats, ' which,
as a country gentleman, I know in the country you must
abominate.'
Sept. 20. I write to you whenever I can snatch an opportunity,
and they are so frequent here, but so hurried, that I hardly know
when I wrote to you last, or what I said. Yesterday, I dined with
the Queen, a party of eight. H.M., the Prince and Princess
Xtian, Princess Louise, the Duke of Edinburg, and myself, Lord
Bridport and Lady Churchill.
We dined in the Library, a small, square room, with good
books very cosy ; like dining with a bachelor in very good rooms
in the Albany.
Conversation lively, though not memorable. The Duke of
Edinburgh talked much of foreign fruits, and talked well.
Although my diet has been severe, and I have not tasted any-
thing but sherry since we parted, I have suffered much from
biliary derangement, which weakens and depresses me. . . .
Yesterday morning I went out walking with Lord Bridport,
and made a tour of the place : so I quite understand the situation,
and general features : I much admire it. Mountains not too high :
of graceful outline and well wooded, and sometimes a vast
expanse of what they call forest, but which is, in fact, only wild
moor, where the red deer congregate. The Duke of Edinbro'
came from the Prince of Wales' place with his keepers, and dogs,
and guns. . . . He wears the tartan and dined in it : and so did
Prince Xtian, but it was for the first time; and the Duke told
me he was an hour getting it on, and only succeeded in getting
it all right by the aid of his wife and his affectionate brother-
in-law. . . .
1868] LIFE IN THE HIGHLANDS 53
Sept. 21. The Queen sent for me yesterday afternoon.
Her rooms are upstairs: not on the ground floor. Nothing
can be more exquisite, than the view from her window. An
expanse of green and shaven lawn more extensive than that from
the terrace of Clifden, and singularly striking in a land of
mountains: but H.M. told me, that it was all artificial, and they
had levelled a rugged and undulating soil. In short, our garden
at Hughenden on a great scale: except this was a broad, green
glade, the flower garden being at the other side of the Castle. I
dined with the household, and, between ourselves, was struck,
as I have been before, by the contrast between the Queen's some-
what simple, but sufficient dinner, and the banquet of our
humbler friends.
Sept. 22. The weather here, instead of being cold as they pre-
dicted, has been wet and warm: and my room every day too hot;
so I have written always with a fire, and the window open. It
is now, under these circumstances, 63: but my fire nearly out.
Yesterday, after a hard morning's work for the messenger
goes at 12 o'clock, and I rise exactly at seven ; so I get four hours'
work Lord Bridport drove me to see some famous falls of
Garrawalt: and though the day was misty and the mountains
veiled, the cataract was heightened by the rain. I never in my
life saw anything more magnificent: much grander falls often,
as in Switzerland, but none with such lovely accessories; such
banks of birchen woods, and boulders of colossal granite.
I dined with the Queen again yesterday. . >. .
Sept. 23. Yesterday we went one of those expeditions you
read of in the Queen's book. Two carriages posting and changing
horses. We went to the Castle of Braemar, where, every year,
the contiguous clans assemble, and have Highland games. The
castle was most picturesque, and is complete and inhabited, and
in old 'days must have been formidable, as it commands all the
passes of the valleys. I was very glad that there were no games.
The drive to it sublime, or rather nobly beautiful. Then we went
on to the Linn of Dee a fall of the Dee River ; and on the bank
we lunched. One might take many hints for country luncheons
from this day, for our friends have great experience in these
matters: and nothing could be more compact and complete than
the whole arrangements. The party was very merry: all the
courtiers had a holiday. Lady Churchill said that, when she
asked the Queen, through the Princess Louise, whether she was
wanted this morning, the Queen replied ' No : all the ladies are
to go, to make it amusing to Mr. Disraeli.'
Returning we went to Mar Lodge, and took tea with Lady
54 THE IKISH CHUECH [CHAP, i
Fife. There we found Sylvia Doyle, looking more absurd than
any human being I can well remember. The highlanders call
her ' The colored Lady.' Her cheeks were like a clown's in a
pantomime, and she had a" pile of golden hair as high as some of
the neighbouring hills. However, she smiled and cracked her
jokes as usual, and gave me, as usual, a long list of all the places
she was going to.
Lord Bridport gave me the enclosed photographs for you. I
saw the Queen on my return home on business. We left Bal-
moral at !/2 past 12 and got home by 7 : a very fine day : no clouds
on the mountains and the outlines all precise : while we lunched,
sunshine; and not a drop of rain the whole day.
Sept 24. The Queen gives her Minister plenty to do : but I
will write every day, however briefly. . . .
Sept. 25. Only a line to keep up the chain. . . .
The Queen has got a photographer and insists upon my being
done. This gave me an opportunity to give your collection to
Lord Bridport. I said you had sent them for the Queen, but I
would not give them, etc., etc. : but he did ; and the Queen was
delighted . . . ' and said many kind things about Mrs. Disraeli.'
I shall try to find them out.
Sept. 26. The bag has brought me no letter from you this
morning, which greatly distresses me: for although all goes on
well here, I am extremely nervous, my health being very unsatis-
factory. ... I have never tasted one of your dear peaches,
which I much wished to do for your sake, and have drunk nothing
but sherry. However, the attack never continues in the day,
but then I am in a miserable state in these morning hours, when
I have to do the main work, and the work is very heavy. . . .
I leave this on Monday, and get to Perth to sleep, and the next
morning to Knowsley, as I must see Lord Derby. On Thursday,
I propose to be at Grosvenor Gate, after, an absence of a fort-
night! . . .
This morning, the Queen has sent me two volumes of views
of Balmoral : a box full of family photographs, a very fine whole-
length portrait of the Prince, and ' a Scotch shawl for Mrs.
Disraeli, which H.M. hopes you will find warm in the cold
weather.' To-day, I am resolved to keep in my room.
Adieu, my dearest love; though greatly suffering, I am sus-
tained by the speedy prospect of our being again together, and
talking over a 1,000 things.
Sept. 27. The Queen sent for me yesterday after she came
home from her ride : but said, when I left H.M., ' This is not
your audience before leaving.'
1868] BALMORAL AND PUBLIC BUSINESS 55
Sept. 28. A very rapid letter before departure. The joy
at our soon meeting again is inexpressible.
Princess Christian said yesterday, that they were all very
sorry I was going, but she knew who was glad, and that was
Mrs. Disraeli. . . .
I had a long audience of the Queen at four o'clock, and
shortly afterwards was invited to dine with H. Majesty again.
Disraeli's visit to Balmoral coincided with a great pres-
sure of public work, and he realised the serious inconven-
ience caused to public interests by a ten days' sojourn of the
Prime Minister in the remote Highlands. ' Carrying on
the Government of a country six hundred miles from the
metropolis doubles the labour/ he wrote to Bishop Wilber-
force. He only repeated the experiment once, in 1874; for
the rest of his second Administration he prevailed on Her
Majesty to excuse him from taking his turn of Ministerial
attendance at Balmoral.
1868
The fate of the Irish Church and of the Conservative
Ministry and party would be decided by the result of the
General Election in ISTovember. To one competent observer
it appeared a fairly matched fight. Clarendon wrote in
June : l Confidence in Gladstone seems on the increase
thro'out the country, though it remains feeble and station-
ary in the H. of C. On the other hand a demoralised na-
tion admires the audacity, the tricks, and the success of the
Jew.' Disraeli realised the powerful effect that organisa-
tion might produce; and with his well-known disregard of
money was ready to take a liberal lead in supplying the
necessary funds. t What we want,' he wrote to Stanley,
' is to raise one hundred thousand, which, it is believed, will
secure the result. It can be done if the Cabinet sets a good
example.'
To Lord Beauchamp.
10, DOWNING ST., June 22, '68. The impending General Elec-
tion is the most important since 1832, and will, probably, decide
the political situation for a long period. The party that is best
organised will be successful. No seat, where there is a fair
prospect, should be unchallenged. To effect this, and to operate
on a class of seats hitherto unassailed, it is necessary that a fund,
to aid the legitimate expenses of candidates, should be raised,
and that upon a scale not inferior to the range which democratic
associations have, on more than one occasion, realised, in order
to advance their views.
As it is natural that the success of such an effort must depend
upon the example set by Her Majesty's Government, I have
induced my colleagues in the Cabinet to subscribe a minimum
56
1868] ECCLESIASTICAL PATKONAGE 57
sum of ten thousand pounds, tho', if they follow my example,
it will reach a greater amount.
May I hope that you will support me in this enterprise ? Some
more formal application may, possibly, be made to you; but,
to so intimate a friend, I prefer to appeal myself.
One thing was clear to Disraeli, namely, that, in determin-
ing the result of the General Election, the Church of Eng-
land, if united and resolved, must play a considerable, per-
haps a preponderant, part. To secure active support for a
cause, in which, to his mind, her own ultimate fate was in-
volved, he bent his energies ; and it was with that temporal
end largely in view that he distributed the ecclesiastical
patronage of the Crown, which happened to be of a pecul-
iarly momentous character in his nine months' premiership.
Five sees had to be filled in that short period, including those
of Canterbury and London; three or four deaneries, in-
cluding that of St. Paul's ; besides canonries, a divinity pro-
fessorship, and important parochial cures. Both Low
Churchmen and High Churchmen were restive. The for-
mer marked with alarm the rapid advance of Tractarianism
and the resulting Ritualism, and many of them were dis-
posed to quit for Dissent a Church which seemed to them
to be heading straight for Rome; the latter were inclined
to regard themselves as the only true inheritors of the
Anglican tradition, to resent the want of recognition under
which their leaders suffered, and to magnify the episcopal
character of the Church at the expense of its national aspect.
To Disraeli, who never forgot the popular outburst at the
time of the Papal aggression, the political danger, at least,
appeared to be greatest from the Low Church side; and,
though he desired to make a fair distribution among all
loyal schools, it was to placate the Evangelicals that he
mainly set himself. />>.
In this whole question of Church patronage he laboured
under two serious disadvantages: personal ignorance of the
leading clergy, and a multiplicity of divergent counsellors,
eager to enlighten that ignorance. Keenly interested as he
58 DEFEAT AND EESIGNATION [CHAP, n
was in the ultimate issues of religion, and considerable as
had been his study of the historical claims and present
needs of the Church of England, Disraeli had never moved in
ecclesiastical or even academical circles, and knew only such
clergy as he met in society; moreover, though he regularly
attended his parish church, he did not go about to hear
preachers of renown. In Dean Stanley's Life 1 there is a
story of the Dean's meeting Beaconsfield in the street, on
the last Sunday in 1876, and taking him to hear for the
first time F. W. Farrar, whom he had just made a Canon,
preach in Westminster Abbey. To Gladstone it would have
been an ordinary experience; to Beaconsfield it was a
' Haroun-al-Raschid expedition ' to be piloted into the north
transept of the Abbey to hear a popular preacher. The
Dean and the Premier listened, unnoticed, for a few minutes,
and then came out. ' I would not have missed the sight for
anything,' said Beaconsfield ; ' the darkness, the lights, the
marvellous windows, the vast crowd, the courtesy, the re-
spect, the devotion and fifty years ago there would not
have been fifty persons there.' It was the comment of an
artist and not of an informed churchgoer. ' Send me down
to-morrow the clergy list. I don't know the names and de-
scriptions of the persons I am recommending for deaneries
and mitres,' Disraeli wrote to Corry in August, 1868, from
Hughenden ; and again from Balmoral in September, ' Ec-
clesiastical affairs rage here. Send me Crockford's direc-
tory ; I must be armed.' ' He showed an ignorance about all
Church matters, men, opinions, that was astonishing,' said
Wellesley, Dean of Windsor, in November. One leading
Churchman Disraeli did know well, his own Bishop, Samuel
Wilberforce. But much as he admired his gifts both of
oratory and of organisation, he did not trust one who had
been for years hand in glove with Gladstone; and he was
convinced that the great mass of his countrymen distrusted
him still more.
i Vol. II., p. 447.
1868] BID FOR PROTESTANT SUPPORT 59
The Bishop was one of those who were eager to direct
the disposal of the Crown patronage. He and Hardy and
Beauchamp * plied Disraeli with recommendations on the
High Church side; while Cairns, on the Low Church side,
aspired to play the same part in Disraeli's ecclesiastical ap-
pointments as Shaftesbury had in Palmerston's. Derby's
advice also was sought and given on every important occa-
sion. Last, but by no means least, the Queen had strong
views of her own, founded partly on the Broad Church tra-
ditions of the Prince Consort, but largely on personal ex-
perience of distinguished divines. Her Majesty, moreover,
had naturally no political bias, such as, consciously or un-
consciously, swayed Disraeli himself and most of his other
counsellors ; but was guided solely by the good of the Church,
as she saw it.
Disraeli's first important appointment was to the Bishop-
ric of Hereford. There he disregarded both his Low
Church and his High Church advisers, and nominated a
hard-working parish clergyman of moderate opinions, Atlay,
the Vicar of Leeds. This was in May. It was in August
that he made his great bid for Protestant support by ap-
pointing to the Deanery of Ripon Canon McNeile of Liver-
pool ; l a regular Lord Lyndhurst in the Church,' as an
Evangelical correspondent wrote, who would make l the
Protestant party fight like dragons for the Government.'
Cairns was naturally ' satisfied that nothing more politic
could occur at the present time.' It would stop the feeling
that was abroad that the Bishop of Oxford was interfering
and influencing Church patronage a feeling which was
due, no doubt, to the appointment of Wilberforce's chap-
lain, Woodford, to succeed Atlay at Leeds. Derby was
startled ; McNeile's nomination seemed to him ' rather a
i Beauchamp had endeavoured to influence ecclesiastical appoint-
ments while Derby was Prime Minister. Disraeli wrote to him on
Nov. 24, 1866: 'I will do my utmost, and immediately, to forward
your wishes; but, entre nous, I don't think my interference, in matters
of that kind, is much affected: at least, I fancy so. I asked for a
deanery the other day, for Hansel, but he is not a Dean.'
60 DEFEAT AND RESIGNATION [CHAP, n
hazardous bid for the extreme Low Church.' Disraeli did
not disguise from his leading colleague his electioneering
aim.
To Lord Stanley.
HUGHENDEN, Aug. 16, 1868. . . . No human being can give
anything like a precise estimate of the elections until the Regis-
tration is over. All that is certain at present is, that we have
our men better planted than our opponents; more numerous
candidates, and stronger ones. The enemy also have no elec-
tioneering fund. It is a fact that both the Duke of Devon [shir]e
and D. of Bedford refused to subscribe. We, on the contrary,
have a fund, tho' not */2 large enough : but sufficient to stimulate
and secure contests, where there is a good chance, and which,
otherwise, would not have been engaged in.
What we want at this moment is a strong Protestant appoint-
ment in the Church. I have been expecting a Bishop to die every
day, but there is hardly a ' good Protestant ' strong enough to
make a Bishop. I thought, however, of recommending Dean
Goode, an Evangelical, but really an ecclesiastical scholar, and
equal in Patristic lore to any Puseyite father.
Strange to say, instead of being made a Bishop, he has sud-
denly died : and I have recommended the Queen to make McNeile
of Liverpool, Dean of Ripon, which is a Protestant diocese. I
believe the effect of this will be very advantageous to us. . . .
Aug. 21. . . . Things are rapidly maturing here: the country,
I am convinced, is, almost to a man, against the High Ch. party.
It is not the townspeople merely, but the farmers universally, the
greater portion of the gentry, all the professional classes: nay!
I don't know who is for them, except some University dons, some
yoxithful priests and some women; a great many, perhaps, of the
latter. But they have not votes yet.
It's still a quarter of a year to the dissolution, and that's a
long time for this rapid age: but I have little doubt it will end
in a great Protestant struggle. The feeling in England is getting
higher and higher every day: but it is Protestant, not Church,
feeling at present. The problem to solve is, how this Protestant
feeling should be enlisted on the side of existing institutions. I
think it can be done: but it will require the greatest adroitness
and courage.
Not a Cath. will be with us : not even Gerard. They can't. . . .
The Queen, like Derby, was startled at the nomination
of McNeile, and only consented with reluctance. But Dig-
1868] THE BISHOPKIC OF PETERBOROUGH 61
raeli was so satisfied with what he had done that he was
anxious, when the Bishopric of Peterborough presently fell
vacant, to proceed with another strongly Evangelical ap-
pointment. Here he met with decided resistance from the
Queen, to whom he explained at length his view of the ec-
clesiastical and political situation.
To Queen Victoria.
[End of Aug., 1868]. . . . The appointment of the new Dean
of Ripon has quite realised Mr. Disraeli's expectations: it has
done great good, has rallied the Protestant party and has been
received by the other sections with no disfavor or cavil.
Since Mr. Disraeli wrote last a long impending vacancy on
the Episcopal Bench has occurred. There is no necessity to
precipitate the appointment and the final decision can await
your Majesty's return. Perhaps Mr. Disraeli may be permitted to
wait on your Majesty at Windsor on your Majesty's return, before
he attends your Majesty in Scotland, to which he looks forward
with much interest.
On the nomination to the See of Peterboro' in the present
temper of the country much depends. The new prelate should
be one of unquestionably Protestant principles, but must com-
bine with them learning, personal piety, administrative ability,
and what is not much heeded by the world but which is vital
to the Church, a general pastoral experience.
Mr. Disraeli after the most careful enquiries and the most
anxious thought is strongly inclined to recommend to your
Majesty Canon Champneys of St. Paul's and Vicar of Pan-
eras. . . .
Affairs at this moment ripen so rapidly in England, that he
must lay before your Majesty the result of his reflexions on a
mass of data, that for amount and authenticity was probably
never before possessed by a Minister. He receives every day
regular reports and casual communications from every part of
the United Kingdom. . . .
There is no sort of doubt that the great feature of national
opinion at this moment is an utter repudiation by all classes
of the High Church party. It is not only general : it is universal.
If the Irish Church fall it will be owing entirely to the High
Church party and the prejudice which they have raised against
ecclesiastical establishment.
Mr. Disraeli speaks entirely without prejudice. The bias of
62 DEFEAT AND RESIGNATION [CHAP, n
his mind from education, being brought up in a fear of fanati-
cism, is certainly towards the High Church, but he has no sort
of doubt as to the justness of his present conclusions and it is
his highest duty to tell your Majesty this.
Nevertheless the Church as an institution is so rooted, and the
doctrine of the royal supremacy so wonderfully popular, that if
the feeling of the country be guided with wisdom Mr. Disraeli
believes that the result of the impending struggle may be very
advantageous and even triumphant to the existing constitution
of the country. . . .
From Queen Victoria.
LUCERNE, Sept. 7, 1868. The Queen thanks Mr. Disraeli for
his two letters. She is glad that Mr. Disraeli has not pressed for
an answer relative to the new Bishop, as the appointments are
of such importance, not only for the present but for the future
good of the Church in general, that it will not do merely to
encourage the ultra-Evangelical party, than wh. there is none
more narrow-minded, and thereby destructive to the well-being
and permanence of the Church of England. Dr. McNeile's
appointment was not liked by moderate men, but still, this hav-
ing been done, it is not necessary or advisable to make more of
a similar nature, and the Queen, with the greatest wish to sup-
port the Government and the Protestant feeling in the country,
feels bound to ask for moderate, sensible, clever men, neither
Evangelical or Ritualistic in their views, to be appointed to
the high offices in the Church.
The Church of England has suffered from its great exclusive-
ness and narrow-mindedness, and, in these days of danger to her,
all the liberal-minded men should be rallied round her and
pressed into her service to support her and not to make her more
and more a mere Party Church, which will alienate all the
others from her. This is the more important as we are threatened
with the loss of several more Bishops and of one most eminent
man the Dean of St. Paul's. . . - 1
To Queen Victoria.
[Sept., 1868]. . . . If, when the verdict is given, the Church
of England is associated in the minds of the people with the
extreme High Church school, the country will deal to that Church
a serious, if not a deadly, blow.
Your Majesty justly observes that the appointment of Dr.
i Milman, the ecclesiastical historian.
1868] CORRESPONDENCE WITH THE QUEEN 63
McNeile did not satisfy moderate men. With becoming humility
Mr. Disraeli would venture to observe it was not intended to do
so. But it satisfied some millions of your Majesty's subjects and
acted as a safety valve to such an extent, that while, before that
appointment, an extreme pressure on your Majesty's advisers
existed to appoint to the vacant see some professor of very decided
opinions, from the moment of the preferment of Dr. McNeile
that pressure was greatly mitigated, and almost ceased.
With humility Mr. Disraeli would presume to observe, that
he knows not, in his long political experience, any happier in-
stance of seizing the apropos.
The country was on the eve of a series of public meetings
on the Church, held by Churchmen, to protest against the imputed
designs of the Crown and the Crown's Ministers in favour of
Ritualism and Rationalism, when this preferment was decided
on. Twenty preferments of clergymen of the same type as
McNeile but not of his strong individuality would not have
produced the effect.
And what did he receive ? A mock deanery which your Majesty
could not have offered to some of the great scholars who sigh
for such, etc.
The appointment of Dr. McNeile already allows your Majesty
greater latitude in the selection of a Bishop.
Again, if a wise selection be made in this instance of Peter-
boro' your Majesty will find still more freedom in the impending
vacancies which your Majesty is obliged to contemplate but
which it is trusted may be at least postponed.
Your Majesty very properly wishes to appoint to the Bench
' moderate, sensible, and clever men ' neither Ritualist nor Evan-
gelical. But Mr. Disraeli humbly asks, Where are they to be
found? The time is not come, at least certainly not the hour,
when Deans of St. Paul and Westminster, and men of that class
of refined thought, however gifted, can be submitted to your
Majesty's consideration. It is not ripe for that; tho' with pru-
dence it may be sooner than some suspect. The consequences of
such a step at this particular moment would be disastrous. And,
as for men, qualified as your Majesty wishes, without the pale of
that school, why your Majesty has already been obliged to go to
New Zealand for a Prelate, 1 and even Dr. Atlay, whom Mr. Dis-
raeli recommended to your Majesty as almost ultimus Roman-
orum, is denounced, tho' erroneously, as a creature of the Bishop
of Oxford, a prelate, who, tho' Mr. Disraeli's diocesan, he is
i Selwyn.
64 DEFEAT AND RESIGNATION [CHAP, n
bound to see is absolutely in _ this country more odious than
Laud.
As a matter of civil prudence, he would presume to say wis-
dom, Mr. Disraeli is of opinion, that the wisest course at this
conjuncture is to seek among the Evangelical school some man
of learning, piety, administrative capacity, and of views, tho'
inevitably decided, temperate and conciliatory in their applica-
tion. He thinks that, with the more ardent satisfied by the
tardy recognition of McNeile and the calmelr portion, now
alarmed and irritated, encouraged and soothed and solaced by
such an appointment as that which he indicates, we might get
over the General Election without any violent ebullition: and
even if another vacancy were to occur in the interval, a man
more conformable with your Majesty's views might be advanced,
if Your Majesty could fix upon one.
The names which Mr. Disraeli, after the most anxious and
painful investigation, places before your Majesty's consideration,
are both of, as he believes, admirable men: and who by their
standing, compass of mind, and tact in their intercourse with
their fellow-clergy, are qualified for the office of a Bishop.
They are Canon Champneys of St. Paul's and Vicar of Pan-
eras, Archdeacon Hone of Worcester. 1
Doubtless neither of these appointments would please the
sacerdotal school nor even satisfy the philosophic: that is not
to be expected : but they would be received with respect alike by
Ritualist or Rationalist; and with confidence and joy by the
great body of your Majesty's subjects.
From Queen Victoria.
BALMORAL, Sept. 18, 1868. Tho' the Queen will have an
opportunity of seeing and conversing with Mr. Disraeli on this
important and difficult subject, viz. the Church appointments,
she thinks it as well to put down in writing the result of much
reflection on her part.
First of all it is to be remembered that any ultra-Protestant
appointment, or at least any extreme Evangelical one, will only
alienate the other party and not please the really moderate men
while it is bringing into the Church those who by their natural
illiberality will render the Church itself more and more un-
popular. . . .
The deanery of St. Paul's, which the Queen fears will soon
be vacant, she thinks ought certainly to be given for eminence
11805-1881: Rector of Halesowen, and Archdeacon of Worcester:
a respected but hardly outstanding Evangelical.
1868] WILBERFORCE ON CHURCH PATRONAGE 65
only either as a preacher or a writer irrespective of party,
and she trusts that, should we lose the valuable, distinguished and
excellent present Dean of St. Paul's, Mr. Disraeli will concur
in this. Another very clever man, and the finest preacher the
Queen has ever heard out of Scotland, and whom she would
much wish to see promoted is the Dean of Cork (Dr. Magee).
To Lord Derby.
Private. PERTH, Sept. 18, '68. . . . I wish I could consult
you about the Bishop, but it would require a volume instead of
a letter. These questions, within the last few months, have
become so critical and complicated. They were always difficult
enough. I have begun to write to you several times on this
subject, but have given it up in despair from the utter inability
of conveying to you my view of the circumstances in a letter.
I think the deanery of Ripon has been a coup. I was really
surrounded by hungry lions and bulls of Bashan till that took
place, but, since, there has been a lull, and an easier feeling
in all quarters strange to say among all parties. Probably
they were all astounded.
Oh! for an hour of confidential talk in St. James' Square!
There are priests now, and men of abilities, who are as perverse
as Laud, and some as wild as Hugh Peters! ... I am, as I
always am, to you, most faithful, D.
The High Church party were deeply affronted by Mc-
Neile's appointment. Even so moderate and representative
a Churchman as Hook, Dean of Chichester, came out against
the Conservative cause. Disraeli complained to the Bishop
of Oxford that ' in the great struggle in which. I am em-
barked, it is a matter of great mortification to me that I
am daily crossed, and generally opposed, by the High
Church party.' The Bishop replied on September 11 :
* The vast body of sound Churchmen are entirely with you
on the great question of the day. But I should not tell you
all that I believe to be the truth if I did not add that there
is at this moment a jealous and alarmed watchfulness of
your administration of Church patronage. Those who
through the long period of Palmerston's Administration held
their fidelity in an ostracised position are in danger of being
alienated.' The Bishop assisted Disraeli by explaining to
66 DEFEAT AND KESIGNATION [CHAP, n
Hook that McNeile's appointment only meant that no al-
lowed party in the Church would be excluded from promo-
tion; but he repeatedly urged Disraeli to placate what he
called ' the strong middle party of orthodox English
Churchmen/ who alone could give him the support he
wanted. Disraeli rejoined emphatically from Balmoral
on September 28 :
There can be no doubt that every wise man on our side should
attract the Protestant feeling, as much as practicable, to the
Church of England. It has been diverted from the Church of
England in Scotland. There the Protestant feeling is absolutely
enlisted against us. If we let it escape from us in England, all
is over. It appears to me that, if we act in the spirit of the
Dean of Chichester, we may all live to see the great Cburch
of England subside into an Episcopalian sect. I will struggle
against this with my utmost energy. 1
Disraeli, apparently, knew little or nothing of Magee,
the great orator of the Irish Church, till his name was sug-
gested by the Queen. But soon recommendations came from
many quarters in his favour ; and before the end of the month
he attracted widespread attention as the preacher of a fa-
mous sermon of appeal from the Irish Church to her Eng-
lish sister, on the text : ' They beckoned unto their part-
ners, which were in the other ship, that they should come
and help them.' 2
To Montagu Corry.
BALMORAL, Sept. 21, '68. . . . The Queen, I found, very de-
sirous to make Magee (Dean of Cork) the Bishop. I waived
all this by saying he must be an Oxford man, and she suggested
the Dean might be one: but I had no book to refer to, and I
am not sure whether Crockford, shortsighted Crockford, bio-
graphises the Irish clergy. Generally speaking, I also discour-
aged the idea: but to my intense surprise I received yesterday
a letter from John Manners, the highest Churchman in the
Cabinet, proposing Magee himself for my consideration, as an
appointment which would satisfy all parties. We should then,
1 Life of Bishop Wilberforce, Vol. III., pp. 266, 267.
2 St. Luke, v. 7.
1868] ARCHBISHOPRIC OF CANTERBURY &7
he said, by this, and the instance of Selwyn, prove our recogni-
tion of the unity of the Church: colonial and Irish, etc.
One objection to Magee is, that his appointment would give
us nothing, and that is a great objection.
The Queen prevailed, and Magee was appointed Bishop, 1
Champneys being preferred to the Deanery of Lichfield.
For the Deanery of St. Paul's, Disraeli had a very suitable
man of his own, Mansel, the distinguished Oxford meta-
physician, who had been associated with him on the Press,
and who shared and powerfully expressed the scepticism
which Disraeli entertained of the value of the conclusions
of German professors and theologians. The author of
Phrontisterion was a congenial spirit with the orator of
the Sheldonian theatre.
The appointments of Magee and Mansel gave very gen-
eral satisfaction, approval being expressed by Derby, Hardy,
and even Wilberforce. The latter's favourite candidate,
Leighton, the Warden of All Souls, though disappointed of
a Bishopric, was made a Canon of Westminster; and the
High Churchmen were further placated by the appointment
of the energetic Gregory to a Canonry at St. Paul's, and of
the scholarly Bright to Mansel's chair at Oxford the lat-
ter appointment pressed by Beauchamp, who warned Dis-
raeli that the High Church party other than ' the old port-
winers ' were holding aloof from the political contest. But
a much more difficult and delicate selection was now laid
upon Disraeli. In the end of October the Archbishop of
Canterbury, Dr. Longley, died.
To Lord Derby.
Secret. 10, DOWNING STREET, Nov. 2, 1868. Returning from
Balmoral, I was disappointed in the opportunity of consulting
you on two important matters : the Church appointments then
i Magee, at the time Dean of Cork, had written to the Prime Minis-
ter, ' asking him, when filling up the deanery of St. Paul's, to give
him one of the appointments that might be vacant in so doing.' Ma-
gee's biographer notes the touch of humour in Disraeli's reply, ' begin-
ning with a refusal of the Dean's modest request on the first page,
and then making the offer of the bishopric when he turned over the
leaf.' MacDonnell's Magee, Vol. I., p. 197.
68 DEFEAT AND RESIGNATION [CHAP. 11
pending, and my address, of which I would have brought you
the draft. However, I got through those difficulties, and pretty
well.
Now comes a greater one: the Archbishop.
My Church policy was this: to induce, if possible, the two
great and legitimate parties to cease their internecine strife,
and to combine against the common enemies: Hits and Rats.
This could only be done by a fair division of the patronage,
and though at first beset by great difficulties, arising from party
jealousy and suspicion, I think I have now succeeded in getting
them well to work together. . . .
As I did not want a very High Churchman, or an Evangelist,
for Archbishop, the materials from which I could select were
very few. I was disposed in favour of the Bishop of Gloucester, 1
whom I don't personally know, but was pleased by his general
career since your accession to office, and also by a correspon-
dence which he held, subsequently, with me, arising out of the
Ritual Commission. It seemed to me very desirable that the
new Primate should not be mixed up with all the recent contro-
versies, and clerical fracas, which have damaged all concerned
in them. I sent my proposal, with well digested reasons: the
boxes crossed, and one came to me saying that there could be
no doubt what was to be done, as there was only one man fit
for the position : the Bishop of London. 2 Then came another
box, mine having been received, still more decided, if that could
be. Now I think the Bishop of London an appointment which
will please neither of the great parties and only a few clerical
freethinkers, who think, and perhaps justly, he may be their
tool, and some Romanisers 'for he supports sisterhoods as
strongly as Oxford or Sarum. 3 I wrote in reply, acknowledg-
ing the two letters, and saying merely they should have my
most serious attention, and I have been employed all this morn-
ing in drawing up a statement touching the whole case, which
will be received, by the person to whom it is addressed, on her
arrival on Thursday. That will be followed, probably, by an
audience on Saturday, and before that time I should be deeply
obliged if you would give me, through the ever faithful secre-
tary, 4 some hints, and your general impressions. . . .
From Lord Derby.
Confidential. ENOWSLEY; Nov. 3, 1868.. . . . I am afraid
that I can do but little towards relieving you from the difficulty
in which you are now placed. ... I agree in your general
i Ellicott. 2 Tait. a W. K. Hamilton. * Lady Derby.
1868] THE QUEEN'S SELECTION 69
principle of dealing, in respect to patronage, with the rival
parties in the Church; and you have been fortunate in having
at your disposal a succession of appointments which has enabled
you to distribute your favours with some appearance of im-
partiality. But the appropriation of the highest prize of all
can hardly be hoped to give general satisfaction, and you must
be satisfied if it does not produce general discontent. Your
range of choice is limited, and your materials by no means first-
rate. I cannot agree with- H.M. that the Bishop of London
would be either a popular or a judicious selection. I am per-
haps prejudiced against the man, but I must confess that I
have no confidence in his judgment. If you should be finally
driven to promote him, which I hope will not be the case, the
Bishop of Oxford, though ineligible for the Primacy, would
make a very good and useful Bishop of London.
With the Bishop of Gloucester, whom you name, my acquaint-
ance is only slight. He is undoubtedly a learned man, and I
believe a sound Churchman, rather inclining to the High School.
But I should doubt his having much strength of character, and
he has a foolish voice and manner which make him appear weaker
than I believe he really is. He is said, and I believe with reason,
to be entirely under the influence of the Bishop of Oxford. Of
the other Bishops, has the name ever occurred to you of my
Bishop of Bochester, Claughton? If his opinions are not too
High Church, he has many qualifications for the office and I
think that you might do worse. Harold Browne, the Bishop
of Ely, is a man of very high reputation but I do not know him
personally, even by sight.
To Lord Derby.
Secret. 10, DOWNING STREET, Nov. 12, 1868. Harold Browne
is offered as a compromise. But what do I gain by Harold
Browne? While H.M. will only be annoyed. I could win, if
I had a man. I don't know personally the Bishop of Gloucester
and you can't fight for a person you don't know. I proposed
him as one appointed by Palmerston, and yet not an Evangelical,
and certainly, from his correspondence, not a follower of the
Bishop of Oxford. The Bishop of Oxford is quite out of the
running, so great is the distrust of him by the country. That
is the great fact, that has come out of the canvass of England.
I thought, last night, of taking the Bishop of London, and
countervailing his neological tendencies, which I think form the
great objection to him, and, of course, his great recommenda-
70 DEFEAT AND RESIGNATION [CHAP, n
tion in the eyes of H.M., by raising Jackson 1 to London. He
is orthodox and Protestant. . . .
Tait was a Liberal and a Broad Churchman, unacceptable
to Disraeli on the score both of politics and of theology.
Accordingly Disraeli fought with passion against his ap-
pointment, coming out of the royal closet, it was noticed, in
great excitement, and telling Malmesbury l Don't bring any
more bothers before me; I have enough already to drive a
man mad.' But, having no really satisfactory candidate of
his own, he had to give way in the end; and the Church
thereby gained a statesman on the throne of Canterbury,
but one whose want of sympathy with the Oxford school
impaired his usefulness in the troubled times which followed.
Tait, in his diary, described with a dry humour his inter-
view with the Prime Minister after the nomination.
He harangued me on the state of the Church; spoke of ration-
alists, explained that those now so called did not follow Paulus.
He spoke at large of his desire to rally a Church party, which,
omitting the extremes of rationalism and ritualism, should unite
all other sections of the Church; alluded to his Church appoint-
ments as aiming at this Champneys, Merivale, 2 Wordsworth,
Gregory, Leighton, myself, Jackson. He promised to support
a Church Discipline Bill, but deprecated its being brought in
by Lord Shaftesbury. Remarked that, whether in office or out,
he had a large Church party. ... I stated my views shortly,
and we separated. 3
For the see of London Dean Wellesley told Wilberforce
that Disraeli proposed Christopher Wordsworth, the nephew
of the poet, the learned Canon of Westminster. ' The
Queen objected strongly; no experience; passing over Bish-
ops, etc; then she suggested Jackson, and two others, not
you, because of Disraeli's expressed hostility ; and Disraeli
chose Jackson.' Though Jackson made a good Bishop of
London, Disraeli had better have taken Derby's advice and
proposed Wilberforce, whom the Queen would have ac-
cepted. Wilberforce's energy and organising power, his
1 Bishop of Lincoln.
2 The historian, appointed Dean of Ely.
s Tait's Life, Vol. I., p. 536.
1868] WILBERFORCE AND DISRAELI 71
knowledge of the world and of society, his high reputation
and influence in the Church, would have made him almost
an ideal Bishop for London. Manners, writing to Disraeli
two years later about the lament in the General Preface to
the novels that no Churchman equal to the occasion had
arisen from the Oxford movement, says : * I doubt whether
a Churchman was not produced by the Oxford movement
sufficiently a statesman, with all his faults, to have helped
you greatly; and I have never understood why, when, for
reasons I can appreciate, you sent Tait to Lambeth, you
did not transfer Wilberforce to London.' The reason was
that, as appears in letter after letter, Disraeli was told, from
the most divergent quarters, that public opinion throughout
the country would resent the appointment, and visit its
displeasure at the polls on the Government responsible for
it. It must be borne in mind that, though the world knows
now how carefully and loyally the Bishop kept the via
media, of Anglicanism, he was still in 1868 outside his dio-
cese widely suspected of Homeward tendencies, which had
operated with fatal effect in his own family. Since he
became Bishop all three of his brothers, and two brothers-
in-law, of whom Manning was one, had joined the Roman
Church ; and in this very year the example was followed by
his daughter and her husband. Disraeli can hardly be
blamed for not facing the threatened storm; but, had he
shown his wonted courage here, he would not have lost a
useful ally or alienated a powerful party.
For the appointment of Wordsworth to the Bishopric
of Lincoln, of Bright to a professorship, and of Leighton
and Gregory to canonries, did not console the High Church
party for the slight to their principal champion ; and Wilber-
force himself could not hide the bitterness of his disappoint-
ment. He wrote in his diary, * I am trying to discipline
myself, but feeling the affront,' and to a friend, ' In myself
I really thank God ; it very little disturbs me. I in my rea-
son apprehend that by the common rule in such matters I
had no right to be so treated ; but I am really thankful in
72 DEFEAT AND KESIGNATION [CHAP. H
feeling so cool about it.' He had resented Gladstone's new
policy and had been working cordially with Disraeli to save
the Irish Church. But now he resumed his former inti-
mate association with Gladstone, who became Prime Min-
ister next month; and he was unsparing in condemnation
of his rival. He immediately began to contrast the two
men greatly to Disraeli's disadvantage, ' Gladstone as ever :
great, earnest, and honest ; as unlike the tricky Disraeli as
possible ' ; and to smooth the way for Gladstone's Irish
policy, by writing to Archbishop Trench, of Dublin, urging
him to arrange a compromise. Trench had suggested delay,
till Gladstone had realised the difficulties before him. The
Bishop replied that this would be a wise course if they were
dealing with l a master of selfish cunning and unprincipled
trickery,' 'a mere mystery-man like Disraeli,' whose whole
idea was ' to use the Church to keep himself in office ' ; but
happily in Gladstone they had ' a man of the highest and
noblest principle.' * And when Lothair was published, in
which he himself was portrayed, the Bishop wrote : ' My
wrath against D. has burnt before this so fiercely that it
seems to have burnt up all the materials for burning and to
be like an exhausted prairie-fire full of black stumps,
burnt grass, and all abominations.' Fortunately the Bishop
was translated in 1869, on Gladstone's motion, from Oxford
to Winchester, so that he no longer had among his flock the
statesman with whom he had for a time so zealously co-
operated, but of whom, since his disregard of his diocesan's
claims to promotion, he had come to think so meanly.
In the general result, with the conspicuous exception of
the neglect of Wilberforce, the appointments for which Dis-
raeli was responsible were not unsatisfactory ; and his policy
of fair division and of a clear insistence on the national
character of the Church was a right policy. But it cannot
be denied that in its application he pursued a seesaw and
zigzag course, and laid himself open to Dean Wellesley's
criticism that ' he rode the Protestant horse one day ; then
i Wilberforce, Vol. III., pp. 277-279.
1868] CLOSE RELATIONS WITH DERBY 73
got frightened it had gone too far and was injuring the
county elections, so he went right round.' The result was
that, so far as his object was a political one, he did not suc-
ceed in it ; there was no such union at the General Election,
as he hoped for, of all parties in the Church to resist Glad-
stone's Irish policy. ' Bishoprics, once so much prized, are
really graceless patronage now,' he wrote ruefully during the
year to Derby ; ' they bring no power.' The Crown had in-
tervened in Church patronage in a decisive way, largely ow-
ing to the Minister's ignorance ; had carried the Archbishop
of its choice directly in his teeth, and had proved the deter-
mining factor in other appointments, including the striking
nomination of Magee. Both in the principles which Her
Majesty laid down, and in the divines whom she recom-
mended, the Queen's intervention must command respect,
and it attained, as well as deserved, success.
Disraeli maintained intimate and confidential relations
with his predecessor Derby throughout this Government, and
had constant recourse in all difficulties to his counsel. He
even submitted, the Queen's Speech to be delivered on the
prorogation of Parliament to his revision. Derby made
considerable alterations in the form, though not in the
substance, of the draft; but only advanced these as sug-
gestions, and hoped Disraeli would not think he had taken
too great liberties with his ' skeleton.' Sensible as he was
of his obligations to Derby and the house of Stanley, Dis-
raeli sought, as Prime Minister, for opportunities of show-
ing his gratitude and friendship. Early in the spring he
paid his old chief the graceful compliment of placing at his
disposal the lord-lieutenancy of Middlesex ; and at the close
of the session he found an official vacancy for Frederick
Stanley, Derby's younger son, afterwards War Secretary,
Governor-General of Canada, and the sixteenth earl. Derby
declined the lord-lieutenancy, as he had no local connection
with the county, and no local interest ; but he was gratified
by the political opening afforded to his son.
74 DEFEAT AND KESIGNATION [CHAP, n
To Lord Derby. .
Private. 10, DOWNING STREET, July 31, 1868. Parliament
being prorogued, I have had the pleasure of offering the Civil
Lordship of the Admiralty to Frederick, and shall be gratified
if he accept it. At any rate, it is an introduction to official
life, and his tenure of office may last longer than some imagine.
We work at the elections with ceaseless energy. I have got
the matter out of the hands of Spofforth, and placed in those
of a limited, but influential, Committee of gentlemen, and it
seems to work very well.
Lord Abercorn is to be an Irish Duke, and Mayo our Indian
Viceroy: so the Irish Government may be satisfied. What the
Irish title is to be I can't tell you. The Prince of Wales wants
it to be Ulster, of which he is Earl, 1 but as I would not counte-
nance this, H.R.H. is to go to the Queen to-morrow anent. I
should think the regal brow would be clouded, and that our
friend must be content with being Duke of Abercorn. He is
very happy, and six inches taller.
I had thought of offering the Irish Secretaryship to Elcho,
a friend of Lord Abercorn, but His Excellency seems to think
that the political connection might disturb the fervor of the
friendship. If so, I think it must be John Manners, who is
sensible, conciliatory, and very painstaking, and certainly will
not ' override ' Abercorn, or quarrel with anybody. Then Elcho
might have J.M.'s place. But would he take it without the
Cabinet ? And Henry Lennox will resign if he be not promoted !
Nothing seems to satisfy him, and if he had Henry Corry's
place, he would soon want mine. 2
The Cabinet to-day was very tranquil, a great contrast to
three or four months ago. Cairns is a great success at the
Council Board.
Short as was Disraeli's term of office, he had not merely
to give an Archbishop to Canterbury, but a Governor-Gen-
eral both to Canada and to India. The first of these two
posts were offered in succession to Mayo and to Manners,
but was eventually filled by a seasoned administrator, Sir
John Young, afterwards Lord Lisgar, who had been High
Commissioner for the Ionian Islands and Governor of New
1 Derby pointed out in reply that it was the Duke of Edinburgh,
and not the Prince of Wales, who was Earl of Ulster.
2 Wilson Patten, created at the close of the Government Lord Win-
marleigh, was ultimately appointed Irish Secretary.
1868] THE INDIAN VICEKOYALTY 75
South Wales. Mayo, who had done yeoman service for his
country and his party as thrice Chief Secretary for Ireland,
was sent to India.
From Lord John Manners.
April 30, '68. In spite of all your encouraging kindness, for
which I shall never cease to be grateful, I have finally decided
mainly on private and family grounds to decline the great
post offered to me last week; and have written to the Duke of
Buckingham to that effect.
Though private considerations have determined this decision,
I own I derive satisfaction from thinking that it will enable
me to remain by your side to the end of the most eventful
chapter in our political life.
Let it terminate as it may, it will always be to me a source
of unalloyed pleasure to have seen you at the summit of power,
and to have had my humbler fortunes linked unbrokenly to
yours.
To Sir Stafford Northcote.
10, DOWNINQ STREET, June 9, 1868. I could have wished to
jhave replied to your letter x instantly, but every moment, yester-
day, was taken up. Although your loss to me would be not
easily calculable, I don't think I could allow it to weigh against
your personal interests, for which, I trust, I have always shown
a due regard. But the Indian V. Royalty has always been
destined for Lord Mayo, who did not wish to return to Ireland,
and I spoke to Lord Derby, with that view, when his Govern-
ment was formed, and when you did not occupy that great
office of State, 2 which you have since administered with so
much satisfaction to the country, and with so much credit to
yourself. Cartainly, Lord Mayo's administration of Ireland
affords no reason for disturbing the prospect in which, for a
considerable time, he has been permitted to indulge, and, being
myself now at the head of affairs, it would hardly become me
to shrink from the fulfilment of expectations, which I sanctioned
and supported as a subordinate member of the Ministry.
I could not speak to you on this matter before, because,
1 Northcote's name had been canvassed, among others, as that of a
possible Viceroy; and he wrote to say that, while he would very much
like to go to India, he did not put himself forward as a candidate, and
would most cheerfully accept Disraeli's decision. Only, for family
reasons, he should like to know, as soon as might be convenient, what
the decision was.
2 Indian Secretary.
76 DEFEAT AND RESIGNATION [CHAP, n
when the prospects of the Ministry were not as bright as they
are at present, Lord Mayo had nearly made up his mind to
go to Canada, when the next mail brought the news, that the
wise Parliament of the Dominion had reduced the salary of the
Governor-General from 10,000 to 6,000 per annum, thereby
depriving themselves of ever having the benefit of the services
of a first-class man. 1
You did quite right in addressing me directly and frankly,
and I reply to you in the same spirit. I should be more than
sorry to occasion you disappointment, because I highly esteem
and regard you, and am anxious, so far as it is in my power,
to advance, and secure, your fortunes.
How well Mavo justified Disraeli's choice is recorded in
English and Indian history. But the Liberals, indignant
at the wealth of patronage that had fallen to a Ministry
which they maintained to have no constitutional claim to
remain in office, raised a loud outcry at the appointment
in their press, and intimated in no uncertain fashion that,
if they got a majority in the election, they would cancel it.
This was no mere journalistic bravado, as has sometimes
been asserted since. The correspondence of the Liberal
leaders shows that cancellation was seriously contemplated.
' If you cancel Mayo's appointment,' Granville wrote to
Gladstone on September 28, ' what do you think of Salis-
bury ? It would be a teat taken away from our pigs, but it
would weaken the Opposition.' ' I think the suggestion an
excellent one,' Gladstone replied. 2 If Mayo was after all
left undisturbed, and the Duke of Argyll, Gladstone's In-
dian Secretary, was able to assert that no advice to remove
him was given to the Crown or contemplated by the Glad-
stone Government, the reason may be found in the following
letters :
From Lord Stanley.
Private. F.O., Sept. 17, 1868. I hear from more than one
quarter, and in a manner that leaves no doubt on my mind as
to the truth of the report, that the Opposition have decided, in
1 The Queen was advised to withhold her assent to the bill reducing
the salary, which accordingly remains 10,000 per annum.
2 Fjtzmaurice's Granville, Vol. I., p. 541,
1868] DISRAELI AND LEECH'S CHILDREN 77
event of their coming in before the end of the year, to remove
Mayo, even if he should have sailed, from the Gov.-Gen.ship. . . .
I think this worth naming, as you may be able to stop it
in limine by getting the Queen to express her disapproval. The
step is an extremely unusual one the only precedent being the
removal of Lord Heytesbury to make way for Lord Auckland,
which caused the Afghan War. . . .
To Lord Stanley.
BALMORAL, Sept. 21, 1868. . . . Your hint about Mayo was
a propos, for our Mistress herself touched upon the business.
She thinks the contemplated recall of her representative will
weaken her name and authority in India : as if she were a mere
pageant! This is the Constitutional view, and I confirmed it.
There is a material difference in recalling a Govr.-Genl. of the
Company and the Vice-Roy of the Sovereign. Clearly.
H.M. recurs to her hope, that, whatever happens, we shall
gain a material accession of strength. I told her the truth
that all the stories about, respecting the result of the General
Election, were alike untrustworthy: that the great body of the
new constituency in towns were unpledged : that the new electors
in the counties were reported as singularly conservative; and
the victory, at the last moment, would be to the party, which
was wealthiest, and best organised.
She does not conceal, from me at least, her personal
wishes. . . .
Magnanimity to foes and gratitude to friends were among
Disraeli's most notable qualities ; and in both respects power
revealed the man. In all the early stages of his career he
had been held up to ridicule by John Leech in Punch with
a mercilessness which was far removed from the bonhomie
with which the artist and the journal treated other public
men. But when his attention was called in 1868 to the fact
that Leech's widow, who had been granted a pension by the
Liberal Government, was dead, and that his two children
were more than ever in want of assistance, he had no hesita-
tion in continuing the pension to the family, remembering
only the dead artist's genius and disregarding the persistent
animosity of his pencil. His enduring gratitude to a bene-
factor was manifested in a still more striking manner.
78 DEFEAT AND RESIGNATION [CHAP, n
For many years after the caprice of the Duke of Port-
land, in calling in the money advanced by the Bentincks
for the purchase of Hughenden, had thrown Disraeli back
upon the moneylenders, 1 his private affairs were in an un-
satisfactory condition and he was greatly hampered by the
exorbitant interest on his apparently still accumulating
debts. In the winter of 1862-1863 fortune sent him a
much-needed relief. The Conservative cause in the North
had a strong supporter in a Yorkshire squire, Andrew
Montagu, of Melton, Yorks, and Papplewick, Notts; son
of'Fountayne Wilson, who had sat in Parliament for the
undivided county of York ; and representative, in the female
line, of the famous Charles Montagu, Earl of Halifax, the
Finance Minister of William III. Andrew Montagu was
a bachelor of great wealth and of somewhat eccentric habits.
The story runs that he made inquiries in that winter of the
Conservative headquarters as to how best he could use his
wealth to promote the success of his party. Among other
suggestions he was told that a rich man could render no
more acceptable service to the cause than by buying up the
debts of the leader in the Commons, and charging him only
a reasonable interest in the place of the exactions under
which he was suffering. He showed himself disposed to
entertain the idea, and was put by Eose, through whom the
negotiation was carried on, into communication with Dis-
raeli's friend, Baron Lionel de Eothschild, who was himself
ready to help Disraeli pecuniarily, but who, as Disraeli
wrote, preferred to give, not lend, to his friends. Eoths-
child and Montagu met, with the result that, in return for
a mortgage on Hughenden, accompanied, it may be, by
some guarantee or assurance from Eothschild, Montagu
assumed the whole responsibility for Disraeli's debts, charg-
ing him apparently merely the 3 per cent, which was then
the interest on Consols intsead of the 10 per cent, or more
that he was previously paying. The immensity of the
service thus rendered to Disraeli may be gauged by the
i See Vol. III., p. 152.
1862-1868] ANDREW MONTAGU 79
fact that lie estimated the resulting increase in his annual
income, in one letter at 4,200, and in another at 5,000.
His gross income in 1866 appears to have been nearly
9,000 a year ; but by that time he had received 30,000 as
Mrs. Brydges Willyams's residuary legatee. 1
Disraeli was anxious to show his gratitude by recommend-
ing his benefactor for a peerage. It was perhaps rather
a hazardous step; but Rose, who encouraged his chief,
quoted as a precedent in its favour the Carrington peerage,
conferred at Pitt's instance on Robert Smith, the banker,
to whom the Minister was under great personal and pecuni-
ary obligations. He advised Disraeli to disregard an anony-
mous letter of warning. He pointed out that this was no
case of an obscure man of recently acquired wealth. Mon-
tagu's father had formerly refused a peerage, and he him-
self, though eccentric, was a man of great possessions, good
family, and political influence in the county of York.
Thus reassured, Disraeli made the offer.
To Andrew Montagu.
BALMORAL CASTLE, Sept. 20, 1868. It is my intention, if
agreeable to you, to recommend Her Majesty to confer on you
the dignity of the Peerage.
Altho', unlike your father, who was the last representative
of the undivided county of York, you have not chosen to avail
yourself of a seat in the House of Commons, your vast posses-
sions, noble lineage, and devotion to the Conservative party,
fully authorise this act on the part of the Queen, as one in
entire conformity with the social custom, and the Constitu-
tional practice, of the Realm.
Montagu declined the honour, mainly on the ground that
his usefulness to Disraeli and to the Conservative party in
the forthcoming elections would be seriously impaired if he
accepted a title. His friends in Yorkshire, where he was
a leading worker for the Conservative cause, would think he
wanted to save himself from a sinking ship. In other cir-
i See Vol. III., ch. 13.
80 DEFEAT AND RESIGNATION [CHAP. a.
cumstances he might accept a favour from his ' best friend
and benefactor/ but not in the autumn of 1868.
The election was to be fought upon domestic issues, and
it would avail Disraeli little with the new electors that
he was able to boast, with good reason, that a great im-
provement had supervened in our foreign relations by the
substitution of Stanley for Russell in the direction of our
policy. He dwelt on this improvement on more than one
occasion, but especially in a speech at Merchant Taylors'
Hall in June.
When we acceded to office the name of England was a name
of suspicion and distrust in every Court and Cabinet. There
was no possibility of that cordial action with any of the Great
Powers which is the only security for peace; and, in conse-
quence of that want of cordiality, wars were frequently oc-
curring. But since we entered upon office, and public affairs
were administered by my noble friend [Stanley] ... I say that
all this has changed; that there never existed between England
and foreign Powers a feeling of greater cordiality and confi-
dence tban now prevails ; that while we have shrunk from
bustling and arrogant intermeddling, we have never taken refuge
in selfish isolation; and the result has been that there never was
a Government in this country which has been more frequently
appealed to for its friendly offices than the one which now
exists.
The Liberals could only reply that a considerable im-
provement had been effected in Clarendon's few months of
office after Palmerston's death, and reproach Disraeli, in
Gladstone's words, with his language of ' inflated and exag-
gerated eulogy.' That Stanley's conduct of foreign affairs
was eminently satisfactory was the general opinion of all
parties.
It looked at one time as if Disraeli would have the good
fortune of settling the acute questions which separated this
country from America. His constant yet dignified friend-
liness to the United States throughout the troubled period
of the Civil War merited such a success. The difficulty
mainly arose from the negligence, in the observance of neu-
1868] NEGOTIATIONS WITH AMERICA 81
trality during that period, of the Palmerston Administra-
tion, and especially of Russell its Foreign Secretary, who
had permitted the Alabama, to escape from a British port to
prey on American commerce. Russell had obstinately main-
tained the correctness of his action, or rather inaction, and
refused to refer the questions at issue to arbitration in any
form. Stanley, as Foreign Minister, had adopted a more
reasonable course. He was prepared to accept arbitration ;
but he resisted, with practically universal approval here, an
attempt by the American Secretary of State to include in
the reference the question of the recognition by this country
of the belligerent rights of the Confederate States a recog-
nition which the Federals had themselves made in proclaim-
ing a blockade. But the speech in which Stanley announced
his policy in March, 1868, was so conciliatory as well as
firm that public opinion in America was favourably im-
pressed ; and, as a result, when a vacancy arose in the sum-
mer in the United States Ministry in London, a notable
man, Senator Reverdy Johnson, was appointed Minister,
with, as Stanley understood, f very conciliatory instruc-
tions.' When Johnson arrived, Stanley was in Switzerland
in attendance on the Queen ; and so it fell to Disraeli to show
the appreciation of the British Government. He immedi-
ately asked the newcomer down to Hughenden to meet a
distinguished party, including the hero of the hour, Sir
Robert Napier, just created Lord Napier of Magdala, and
the historian Lord Stanhope.
To Lord Stanley.
HUGHENDEN, Aug. 16, 1868. . . . Reverdy J. has not arrived.
I will send a Secy, the moment he does, and ask him down
here. The hero of Magdala is coming on the 24th. I should
like to kill them with the same stone.
I have given orders for the new Adm[iralt]y Patent to be
prepared, as I hear there is no danger, now, of any election
being precipitated at Preston, so Fred, will be soon at work:
Sir M. Hicks Beach to be U. Secy. Home, and Jem Lowther to
have his place in the Poor Law Board, which he will represent
in the Commons. Thus we get the young ones, who promise,
82 DEFEAT AND RESIGNATION [CHAP, n
into the firm, and they will sit on the front bench, wherever
that may be.
To Montagu Corry.
HUGHENDEN, Aug. 21. . . . Understand the Minister of the
Un: States comes on Tuesday. . . . Remember, if you can, the
venison: and oh! don't forget some work of the illustrious and
noble author, 1 bound, and let me have it in time to put book
plate in: otherwise, enemy for life. . . .
Aug. 23. . . . I count on your punctuality to-morrow: as I
hear to-day, there is to be a triumphal arch at the entrance of
the Park, and Mr. Coates and the tenantry on horseback to
escort the hero ! I entirely rely on your being the Master of the
Ceremonies. . . .
To Lord Stanley.
HUGHENDEN, Aug. 26, '68. You sent me a most amusing
letter. Do you know, I think you an excellent letter writer;
terse and picturesque; seizing the chief points, and a sense of
humor.
Reverdy Johnson is here, and gets on very well. The ladies
like him. He has eleven children, and 33 grandchildren: so
they call him Grandpapa. He has only one eye, and that a very
ugly one; and, yet, at a distance, looks something like old Lord
Lansdowne, after a somewhat serious illness. His manners,
tho', at first, rather abrupt and harsh, are good; he is self-
possessed, and turns out genial.
Stanhope, who is here, seems to delight in him, and thinks
it a coup de maitre to have asked him here, and that the Alabama
and all other claims will be settled forthwith. His visit to
Hughenden is to our joint credit.
They all like Napier of Magdala very much: he is interesting
and graceful, and tells even a story but not too long : Chinese
or Abyssinian.
Stanley, in his speech in March, had expressed his readi-
ness to consider a suggestion which Seward, the American
Secretary of State, had thrown out, of a General Commis-
sion to which the claims of both countries might be re-
ferred. On these lines a convention was arranged in the
autumn with Reverdy Johnson, with a special proviso for
the reference of the Alabama claims to a neutral Sovereign,
in case the Commission should not agree. Though the
i Lord Stanhope.
1867-1868] THE EUROPEAN KALEIDOSCOPE 83
American Minister at the Lord Mayor's banquet in Novem-
ber spoke of the matter as settled, the good work was not
actually completed when the Government went out of office ;
but Clarendon, the new Foreign Secretary, took it up and
brought it to formal signature in January. Internal poli-
tics in the United States, however, caused the convention
to miscarry. It had to pass the Senate, then in antagonism
to President Johnson and his executive ; and the electors in
the autumn had chosen a new President, who would wish to
have his hands free when he assumed office in March.
More also might be hoped from England under a Liberal
than under a Conservative Administration. All these con-
siderations determined the Senate to reject the convention;
and the difficulty was left to be settled in a costly and less
satisfactory fashion by the Gladstone Government a few
years later.
It is natural to search Disraeli's correspondence during
this period of office, to see how far he realised the catastro-
phe which was impending over France and over Europe,
owing to the rapid rise of Prussian power and the jealousy
with which it was regarded to the west of the Rhine. In
obedience to his own inclinations and the Queen's com-
mand, 1 he kept a watchful eye on the situation abroad ; but
it cannot be maintained that he saw much farther than his
neighbours. In the August of 1867 the French Emperor
and Empress had paid a visit to the Emperor of Austria
at Salzburg, ostensibly to condole with him on the tragic
fate in Mexico in the previous June of the Emperor Maxi-
milian, Francis Joseph's kinsman. But the visit also sig-
nified a certain drawing together of two Powers, of which
one had been defeated, and the other was threatened, by the
growing might of Prussia. Disraeli's letters of that date
show how he viewed the European kaleidoscope.
To Lord Stanley.
HUGHENDEN, Sept. 1, 1867. . . . I have heard nothing from
i See Vol. IV., p. 473.
84 DEFEAT AND RESIGNATION [CHAP, n
the K[othschild]s. I observe, they never write, and only speak,
indeed, on these matters in a corner, and a whisper.
To form a judgment of the present state of affairs, one must
be greatly guided by our knowledge of the personal character
of the chief actors.
The Emperor will never act alone; Bismarck wants quiet; and
Beust, 1 tho' vain, is shrewd and prudent.
Gortc[hako]ff 2 is the only man, who could, and would, act
with the Emperor, in order to gain his own ends, on which he
is much set, but if the Emperor combines with him, he will so
alarm, and agonise, Austria, that she will throw herself into
the arms of Prussia, in order that an united Germany may save
her from the destruction of all her Danubian dreams.
I think affairs will trail on, at least for a time, and the longer
the time, the stronger will be your position. In such a balanced
state of circumstances, you will be master. . . .
GROSVENOR GATE, Oct. 14, 1867. I thought it wise to recon-
noitre, and called on our friend 3 yesterday.
He said the Emperor was no longer master of the position,
and repeated this rather significantly.
In time, I extracted from him, that they had information
from Paris, that there was a secret treaty between Prussia
and Italy.
I rather expressed doubts about this, and hinted that it seemed
inconsistent with what had reached us, that there was an under-
standing between France and Italy, that the Emperor should
give notice of his course, etc.
He was up to all this, and showed, or rather read, me a tele-
gram, I should think of yesterday, in precisely the same words
as you expressed, so I inferred the same person had given the
news to Fane and his correspondent. Probably Nigra 4 himself.
The information of the secret treaty had arrived subsequently,
and he stuck to it, and evidently believed it. ...
The Berlin Ministry have consulted another member of the
family about ironclads. They are going to expend l 1 /^ mill,
sterling immediately thereon, and told him they thought of hav-
ing the order executed in America, as, in case of war with
France, the ships would not be allowed to depart if they were
constructed in England. . . .
In the spring of 1868 one of those pretended reductions
of Prussian armament, which have occasionally been adver-
1 Austrian Foreign Minister. 8 Baron Lionel de Rothschild.
2 Russian Chancellor. * Italian Minister in Paris.
1867-1868] PRUSSIAN ARMY REDUCTIONS 85
tised since, was understood to be in progress at Berlin;
and Disraeli, who should have had enough experience to
disbelieve, was caught by a story which was rightly treated
by Stanley as not worth serious attention.
To Lord Stanley.
GROSVENOR GATE, April 23, '68. This appears to me important :
Charles [Rothschild] is virtually Bismarck. 1
A few days ago, B. was all fury against France, and declared
that France was resolved on war, etc. : but on Monday the Rs.
wrote to Berlin, that they understood England was so satisfied
with Prussia, so convinced, that she really wished peace, etc.,
that England would take no step, at the instance of France,
which would imply doubt of Prussia, etc.
This is the answer. I can't help thinking, that you have
another grand opportunity of securing the peace of Europe
and establishing your fame. . . .
[Enclosure.]
Charles Rothschild to Baron Rothschild.
(Telegram.) BERLIN, April 23, 9.45 a.m. Tell your friend
that from the 1st of May army reduction here has been decided
upon, and will be continued on a larger scale if same system
is adopted elsewhere. Details by post.
To Lord Stanley.
10, DOWNING STREET, April 24, '68. Bernstorff never knows
anything. 2 I am sure there is something on the tapis, and I
want you to have the credit of it. Vide Reuter's Tels: in
Times of to-day : ' Berlin, Ap : 23,' rumor on the Bourse, etc.
What I should do would be to telegraph to Loftus, and bring
things to a point, and then act.
1 feel sure it will be done without you, if you don't look
sharp. You risk nothing, and may gain everything.
April 25, 4 o'c. I feel persuaded it's all true. They have
a letter this morning in detail, explaining the telegram, and
enforcing it. The writer, fresh from Bismarck himself, does
i ' They see one another daily,' was Stanley's note on the letter. To
avoid misunderstanding, it should be added that there has not been,
since 1901, any branch of the house of Rothschild in the German
Empire.
2 Stanley had replied that the Ambassador knew nothing of intended
reductions.
86 DEFEAT AND RESIGNATION [CHAP, n
not speak as if doubt were possible: gives all tbe details of tbe
military reductions to commence on 1st May, and the larger
ones, wbicb will be immediately set afoot, if France responds.
How can you explain all this? What of Loftus?
From Lord Stanley.
Private. Sat., 6 p.m. [April 25, 1868]. The telegram con-
firms your friend's expectations. I spoke to La Tour [d'Au-
vergne] 1 in anticipation of it, ' Supposing the news were true,
what would you do ? ' His answer was discouraging. He says
(and indeed the tel. confirms him in that respect) that Prussian
reductions mean nothing. ' What security do they give, when it
is "admitted that the men can be brought back in a week's time,
if not in 24 hours ? ' I am compelled to own there is some
force in the reply. Still, with the facts actually before us, we
may press them a little.
Throughout the summer and early autumn Disraeli re-
mained sanguine of success at the polls. Derby, however,
told him in August that ' Stanley's language as to the re-
sult of the elections is absolute despondency he hardly
seems to think the battle worth fighting.'
To Lord Derby.
Private. HUGHENDEN, August 23, 1868. ... I heard from
Stanley 2 to-day, who seems rather jolly, and wonderfully well.
He makes excursions in the mountains, and takes very long
walks. He confesses he is e enjoying himself.' He has not
seen much of his Royal Mistress, but he says that, on Sunday
last, she was looking very well, and in high good humor does
not talk much politics, but highly disapproves of the Opposition,
praises her Ministers, and is very anxious that the elections
should go right. According to your last, she did not get hold
of the right man to encourage her on that subject; but the
fact is Stanley does not know anything about it; he reads news-
papers and believes in them; and as they are all written by the
same clique, or coteries almost identical in thought, feeling,
life and manners, they harp on the same string. It is very
difficult to say, in this rapid age, what may occur in a General
Election, which will not now happen for nearly a quarter of a
year, but I myself should not be surprised if the result might
1 Of the French Embassy in London.
2 At Lucerne in attendance on the Queen.
1868] ADDRESS TO ELECTORS OF BUCKS 87
astonish, yet, the Bob Lowes, Higgins, Delanes, and all that
class of Pall Mall journal intellect. . . .
The newspapers, and Stanley, who, like the newspapers,
had a shrewd instinct for average opinion, saw more clearly
than the Conservative leader and his advisers what was
going to happen. The party Committee to whom was en-
trusted the duty of conducting the elections assured Dis-
raeli that there was reason to expect that the Conservatives
would make sufficient gains to give them more than half
the House of Commons: 266 from England, 51 from Ire-
land, and 13 from Scotland ; 330 in all out of a House of
658. With this report before him Disraeli, absorbed in
the heavy and responsible work of Government, was ap-
parently content to wait in comparative passivity for the
country's verdict. He had given the vote to a hitherto un-
enfranchised million of his fellow-countrymen, belonging
in the great majority to the working classes ; but so absolutely
incapable was he of demagogic arts that he neglected, almost
to a culpable degree, to endeavour to utilise his great legis-
lative achievement to secure their support for himself and
his party. The Liberals went up and down the country
explaining that, though the Conservatives had passed the
Reform Bill, the thanks of the new voters for the boon were
really due to Gladstone and Bright; and Gladstone and
several of his colleagues undertook impassioned electoral
campaigns in which the new Irish policy of their party was
eloquently expounded. But Disraeli contented himself
with issuing an address, undoubtedly of some length and
elaboration, to the electors of Bucks ; and, as there was no
contest in his constituency, with one speech on the hustings
on re-election a speech which was not even delivered till
after the verdict of the boroughs had been largely given
against his Ministry.
The address was drafted early in September, and during
the remainder of the month was submitted to his principal
colleagues for criticism and emendation; particularly to
Cairns, on whose judgment Disraeli had come very thor-
88 DEFEAT AND EESIGNATION [CHAP, n
oughly to rely, and whom he begged ' to give his whole mind
to the affair, and, if necessary, to rewrite it.' No serious
alteration was suggested by Cairns or others, and at the be-
ginning of October the document was issued. In the fore-
front Disraeli claimed the confidence of the party and the
country as Derby's political heir, who had pursued his old
chief's policy ' without deviation.' The settlement of the
Reform question on broad lines, a foreign policy which es-
tablished the just influence of England, the successful ex-
pedition to Abyssinia, and the strengthening of the naval
arid military forces, were all put forward as grounds for
support. But, owing to the tactics of the Liberal party,
Ireland had necessarily to be the main subject of the ad-
dress. He claimed that Ministers had, by vigilance and
firmness, baffled the Fenian conspiracy, and had also pur-
sued a wise policy of sympathy and conciliation. But
Gladstone had suddenly proposed ' a change of the funda-
mental laws of the realm ' and ' a dissolution of the union
between Church and State.' To that policy Ministers had
offered, and would offer, l an uncompromising resistance.
The connection of religion with the exercise of political
authority is one of the main safeguards of the civilisation
of man.' No doubt the new policy was only to be partially
applied in the first instance, but the religious integrity of
the community would be frittered away. Confiscation,
too, was contagious. Finally the religious security which
was the result of the royal supremacy would be endangered,
and Rome alone would profit.
Amid the discordant activity of many factions there moves
the supreme purpose of one Power. The philosopher may flatter
himself he is advancing the cause of enlightened progress; the
sectarian may be roused to exertion by anticipations of the
downfall of ecclesiastical systems. These are transient efforts;
vain and passing aspirations. The ultimate triumph, were our
Church to fall, would be to that Power which would substitute
for the authority of our Sovereign the supremacy of a foreign
Prince; to that Power with whose tradition, learning, discipline,
and organisation our Church alone has, hitherto, been able to
1868] PROSPECTS OF THE ELECTION 89
cope, and that, too, only when supported by a determined and
devoted people.
In this address Disraeli made his main appeal for confi-
dence to the Protestantism of the nation. There is no doubt
that, misled by the violent outbreak at the time of the Papal
aggression, by the suspicions arising out of the Roman mis-
sionary propaganda in society during the sixties, and by
the popular dislike of the developments of Ritualism, he
overrated the electoral strength of a feeling which un-
doubtedly was widely spread.
As the election drew near, the signs of Liberal victory
became more evident, though Disraeli, still sanguine, tried
to explain them away. Derby, surveying the field now from
an outside standpoint, anticipated unsatisfactory results gen-
erally, save in his own county of Lancashire. ' I am afraid/
he wrote on October 29, ' that, where it has any operation,
the minority clause will operate unfavourably for us in al-
most every instance, and there appears to be a lamentable
apathy on the part of the Conservatives in abandoning
seats which might fairly be contested, or even of availing
ourselves of the rival pretensions of Liberal candidates for
a single seat.'
To Montagu Corry.
Private. 10, DOWNING STREET, Nov. 3, '68. Might not these
two queries lead to a solution of the difficulty perhaps the
fallacy of yesterday's speculations on the General Election?
1 : Was there ever a General Election in which half the seats
were not uncontested?
2 : Is it not a fact, that the winning side always, or generally,
gains %rds. of the contests?
For illustration, examine Palmerston's two dissolutions :
China and 1865. And then Peel's in 1834 when he gained
100 seats: and dissolution of 1841 when he gained 80.
These are the materials from which an expert might deduce
instructive results.
If I could have them before my audience I should be glad.
Nov. 10. Send me a line of news. Our men seem to be
running away. . . .
90 DEFEAT AND EESIGNATION [CHAP, tt
On the very eve of the dissolution came the celebration
of Lord Mayor's Day, and Disraeli at the Guildhall banquet
gaily affected to entertain a confident expectation that he
would be the Lord Mayor's guest in the following Novem-
ber, and chaffed the Liberals over their boastful and braggart
methods of conducting the campaign.
I think I have read somewhere that it is the custom of
undisciplined hosts on the eve of a battle to anticipate and
celebrate their triumph by horrid sounds and hideous yells,
the sounding of cymbals, the beating of terrible drums, the
shrieks and screams of barbaric horns. But when the struggle
comes, and the fight takes place, it is sometimes found that the
victory is not to them, but to those who are calm and collected :
the victory is to those who have arms of precision, though they
may make no noise to those who have the breech-loaders, the
rocket brigade, and the Armstrong artillery.
One of the most frequent and most telling weapons which
the Opposition used in their campaign was the assertion
that the Government were quite as ready to disestablish
the Irish Church as they were themselves. ' There is as
much chance,' wrote Disraeli in the vain hope of silencing
this slander, ' of the Tory party proposing to disestablish
the Protestant Church in Ireland as there is of their pro-
posing to abrogate the Monarchy.' It was a great misfor-
tune that Disraeli could not bring his colleagues to agree to
concurrent endowment; but, that being so, Ministers, how-
ever ready for reform, could hardly for the election take up
any other position than that of simple resistance to Glad-
stone's plan of destruction. This was naturally distasteful
to the reforming section of the Cabinet, and especially to
Stanley. He pressed his views again on Disraeli in the au-
tumn, and Disraeli replied, on September 26, from Bal-
moral : ' I highly appreciate your criticisms, as you well
know; but I think your views about the Irish Church are
of a school of thought that has passed. Excuse my pre-
sumption. I don't think compromise is now practicable/
Both Derby and Disraeli feared that Stanley, when he gave,
1868] THE IKISH CHARACTER 91
according to promise, a full explanation of his views to the
electors of Lynn, might seriously embarrass the future of the
Conservative party; and the father, now as on previous
occasions, relied upon Disraeli to keep the son straight. It
was an immense relief to both chiefs to find from the next
morning's paper that the Foreign Secretary had been cau-
tious and discreet.
To Lord Stanley.
10, DOWNING STREET, Nov. 10, '68. I should like to have seen
you, for a moment, before you departed. I shall have sleepless
nights, until I have read your Lynn words.
Pray don't stab me in the back after all the incredible exer-
tions I am making for the good cause.
And don't believe newspapers, and newspaper writers, too
much. The result of the General Election, rest assured, will
surprise all the students of that literature.
Nov. 14. Perfect!
I am told our own party are enthusiastic: but all praise it.
It must do us great good.
Stanley's speech was at the opening of the polls. By the
time that the county returns were beginning, and that
Disraeli was elected unopposed for Bucks, it was clear that
Ministers would be defeated ; * and the Prime Minister, in
marked contrast to Gladstone's bellicose utterances, felt
himself justified in taking a detached and impartial view
of the situation on the hustings at Aylesbury. To this
happy contingency we owe a priceless appreciation of the
Irish character.
The Irishman is an imaginative being. He lives on an
island in a damp climate, and contiguous to the melancholy
ocean. He has no variety of pursuit. There is no nation in
the world that leads so monotonous a life as the Irish, because
their only occupation is the cultivation of the soil before them.
These men are discontented because tbey are not amused. The
Irishman in other countries, when he has a fair field for his
talents in various occupations, is equal, if not superior, to most
races; and it is not the fault of the Government that there
1 ' Our shadows seem to grow very long,' Disraeli wrote on the day
of the election to Northcote.
92 DEFEAT AND KESIGNATION [CHAP, n
is not that variety of occupation in Ireland. I may say with
frankness that I think it is the fault of the Irish. If they led
that kind of life which would invite the introduction of capital
into the country, all this ability might be utilised ; and instead of
those feelings which they acquire by brooding over the history
of their country, a great part of which is merely traditionary,
you would find men acquiring fortunes, and arriving at con-
clusions on politics entirely different from those which they
now offer. 1
Derby, while singing the praises of his own county of
Lancashire, gave Disraeli a gloomy exposition of the gen-
eral upshot of the elections.
From Lord Derby.
Confidential. KNOWSLEY, Nov. 22, 1868. On looking over the
returns, which are now nearly completed, I am sorry to see that
our numbers will not only greatly disappoint your sanguine
hopes, but will fall considerably below even my more modest
anticipations. Even taking the most favourable view of the
elections which are yet to take place, I cannot make out that
Gladstone's majority will be less, and probably more, than a
hundred. I am happy to think however that my county at least
has done its duty. I told you I hoped to secure 18 out of the
32 seats 2 we have done that already, if, as I have every reason
to believe, we have carried both seats in the North-East. There
are four seats remaining, out of which I have every hope of
carrying three, including this division, in which we shall defeat
Gladstone by not less than a thousand. We have lost Wigan
by sheer mismanagement, and Warrington temporarily by ras-
cality ; the Mayor's poll clerk, who has absconded, having omitted
50 or 60 of Greenall's supporters, whose votes appear on the
books of both parties. . . .
In the midst of our disasters, let me congratulate you, which
I do very sincerely, on your speech at your nomination. It
was perfectly suited to the occasion, calm, temperate, and digni-
fied, and a striking contrast to the balderdash and braggadocio
in which Gladstone has been indulging on his stumping tour
and which, I am happy to say, has done him more harm than
good. The fate of the Government however is, I apprehend,
decided. . . .
1 Aylesbury, Nov. 19, 1868.
2 The final result for Lancashire showed 19 Conservatives to 13
Liberals,
1868] RESULT OF THE POLLS 93
Household suffrage, on its first experiment, produced
results which were very unfavourable to its authors. The
working men accepted the Liberal contention as to the real
giver of their franchise ; and were seduced by the captivating
cries of religious equality and justice to Ireland. Accord-
ingly, the boroughs, save in Lancashire, declared with con-
siderable unanimity against the Government; but the re-
duction of the occupation franchise in the counties operated
favourably to the Conservatives, and enabled them to ap-
pear in Parliament as a considerable and coherent, if a
reduced, minority. Unsatisfactory as was the general re-
sult, which, roughly speaking, doubled the majority of sixty
which the Liberals had held in the last Parliament, there
were several individual returns which were calculated, in
some measure, to console the losers. Gladstone, in spite of
a campaign of copious oratory, was rejected by the Lancas-
trian constituency which had come to his rescue after his
defeat at Oxford ; and he would sit in the new Parliament as
the junior member for the metropolitan borough of Green-
wich. Lancashire further gratified the Tory party and the
house of Stanley by returning Frederick Stanley in the
place of Lord Hartington; and in two important metro-
politan constituencies victories were won for the party by
two men who were to be among the ablest of Disraeli's
younger colleagues in his last Administration William
Henry Smith ousted John Stuart Mill from Westminster,
and Lord George Hamilton, then a young guardsman, came
in at the top of the poll for Middlesex. If there was con-
siderable slaughter among Tory lawyers, the failure of Roe-
buck, Milner-Gibson, H. Austin Bruce, Bernal Osborne, and
Horsman to name the more conspicuous of the Liberal
notabilities who fell must have brought some balm to
Disraeli's spirit. By the operation of the minority clause
a Conservative was returned also with three Liberals for
the City of London, and Disraeli's Liberal friend, Baron
Lionel de Rothschild, whom he had done so much to seat in
the House, was rejected.
94 DEFEAT AND EESIGNATION [CHAP, n
The country had registered a decisive verdict against
Ministers. What ought they to do ? According to the old
precedents, they ought to meet Parliament as if nothing
had happened, and wait to he defeated either on the elec-
tion of Speaker or on an amendment to the Address. This
was the course pursued hy Melbourne's Government in 1841 ;
but Disraeli had condemned it then as a policy resting on
constitutional fictions and not on facts, and so causing
harmful and unnecessary delay. 1 Ministers, now as then,
had been defeated in Parliament, had thereupon appealed
from Parliament to the country, and had had at the polls
their defeat confirmed and emphasised. It was advisable,
he thought, to acknowledge the fact and resign at once.
As was his frequent custom in this Government, he first
talked the matter over with Stanley, who had independently
come to the same conclusion. Disraeli's two other most im-
portant colleagues, Hardy and Cairns, agreed; and the
Queen threw the weight of her influence into the scale.
Apart from her invariable preference for realities and readi-
ness to accept political facts even if unpalatable to her, Her
Majesty was naturally anxious to have the political changes
completed, so far as possible, before the recurrence of the
sad anniversary of her loss on December 14.
While the concurrence of the Queen and of Disraeli's
principal colleagues made it probable that the assent of the
Cabinet would be secured for immediate resignation, it was
certain that the country would be surprised, and it was
possible that the party might be offended. Accordingly, it
was necessary, as Disraeli wrote to Derby, to accompany
resignation ' by some simultaneous act which should reas-
sure and satisfy the party ' ; ' some proceeding,' as he wrote
to Hardy, * which leaves no doubt in the minds of our
friends, in Parliament and the country, of our determina-
tion to stand by our policy of [ ? on] disestablishment.'
As Parliament was not sitting, this was difficult. At first
Disraeli thought of effecting his purpose by an open letter
i See Vol. II., p. 116.
1868] THE PRECEDENT OF RESIGNATION 95
to Derby ; but finally decided to send a circular to all Con-
servative peers and members of Parliament. The Cabinet
accepted the advice of the Prime Minister, backed by his
most influential colleagues, in spite of a strong letter from
Derby in the contrary sense, written to Stanley, and read,
at the writer's request, both to Disraeli and apparently also
to the Cabinet. ' It does not alter my opinion,' Disraeli
told Stanley. l However, the Cabinet will consider and de-
cide. If you think it expedient to read it, postpone its read-
ing till we have ascertained the unbiassed sentiments of our
colleagues.'
To Queen Victoria.
10, DOWNING STREET, Nov. 28, 1868. Mr. Disraeli with his
humble duty to your Majesty.
The Cabinet is over, and has arrived at the conclusion he
wished, though after much criticism, and great apprehension,
that the Conservative party, not only in Parliament, may be
offended and alienated.
Assisted by Lord Stanley, and by the Lord Chancellor, Mr.
Disraeli successfully combated these fears, and adopted several
suggestions, which were made, sensible and ingenious, which
are calculated to prevent their occurrence. . . .
From General the Hon. Charles Grey.
WINDSOR CASTLE, Nov. 30, 1868. The Queen commands me
to return Lord Derby's letter. H.M. is still of opinion that
you have taken the course which was most honourable and
straightforward as regards the character of the Govt., and cer-
tainly best for the public interest. . . .
To Lord Derby.
10, DOWNING STREET, Dec. 2, 1868. The Cabinet were unani-
mous on the subject of resignation, not so much from any senti-
mental feeling of personal honor, which would not bear discus-
sion, but from a conviction that the course was more advan-
tageous to the party.
I . enclose you a copy of the circular, which I propose to
forward to every member of the party in both Houses, and which
will, of course, appear in all the newspapers.
I tendered my resignation yesterday.
96 DEFEAT AND RESIGNATION [CHAP, n
In the circular Ministers explained that they had not
modified their opinion that Gladstone's policy of Irish dis-
establishment and disendowment was ' wrong in principle,
probably impracticable in application, and if practicable
would be disastrous in its effects.' But they justified their
immediate resignation in the following terms :
Although the General Election has elicited in the decision of
numerous and vast constituencies an expression of feeling which
in a remarkable degree has justified their anticipations and
which in dealing with the question in controversy no wise states-
man would disregard, it is now clear that the present Adminis-
tration cannot expect to command the confidence of the newly
elected House of Commons. Under these circumstances Her
Majesty's Ministers have felt it due to their own honour and
to the policy they support not to retain office unnecessarily for
a single day. They hold it to be more consistent with the
attitude they have assumed and with the convenience of public
business at this season, as well as more conducive to the just
influence of the Conservative party, at once to tender the resigna-
tion of their offices to Her Majesty rather than wait for the
assembling of a Parliament in which in the present aspect of
affairs they are sensible they must be in a minority.
The precedent thus wisely set has been followed on every
subsequent occasion when the circumstances have been at all
similar; by Gladstone after the General Elections of 1874
and 1886, and by Beaconsfield himself after that of 1880.
In 1885 and in 1892 Salisbury took a different course on
the reasonable ground that, though there was probably a
majority against Ministers, it was not a homogeneous ma-
jority and might fairly be tested in Parliament; but on
neither occasion did his Government survive the Address.
For the moment in 1868 there was some doubt as to the con-
stitutionality of the proceeding ; but the press and the party
were in general favourable. 1 Disraeli was able to report to
Grey, for the Queen's information, on December 4 : ' Mon-
tagu Corry tells me that he went into the Carlton Club
i Even Derby changed his mind ; and ' on further consideration of
all the circumstances/ told Disraeli he was satisfied that the decison
of the Government was right.
1868] LOSING LIKE A GENTLEMAN 97
yesterday, which was crammed and crowded, as it always is
during a Ministerial crisis, and that there was only one, and
even enthusiastic, opinion as to the propriety of the course
which I had taken. This is a great relief to me ; even the
malignant Times, on second thoughts, finds it wise to ap-
prove.' Public opinion, on the whole, endorsed Grey's ver-
dict in a letter to the Queen : ' Nothing more proper or
manly than [Disraeli's] way of taking defeat.' Many
Liberal journals paid a similar tribute. ' Mr. Disraeli's
conduct,' said the Spectator, i although astute, is still manly
and straightforward. He is a gamester in politics, but hav-
ing lost the rubber he pays the stakes without a squabble.'
He knew how to lose like a gentleman.
When Disraeli quitted office he was just completing his
sixty-fourth year and his wife had reached the advanced
age of seventy-six. Considering the size and enthusiasm of
the Liberal majority, it was most improbable that she at
any rate would live to share office once more with her
husband. Was it even worth his while to resume the toil
of apparently hopeless Opposition ? He had reached the
goal of his ambition, had become what he told Melbourne
he meant to be, Prime Minister. Might he not reasonably
now retire from the active fight, accept the honours to which
his long service had given him a claim, and settle down to
enjoy them with his wife in the few years during which he
might yet keep her with him ? The vision attracted him ;
but, even if he could bring himself to forgo the joy of battle
in the Commons, he must have felt the honourable obliga-
tion, so long as his health permitted, of remaining to re-
build the party from the ruin into which, according to his
busy detractors in the ranks, it was his reckless Reform
policy that had plunged them. If, however, he remained,
he might. still secure for his wife the honours which she
would value the more highly as coming through him and on
his account. In his audience of the Queen after the elec-
tions he broached the suggestion that Mrs. Disraeli might be
created a peeress in her own right ; and was encouraged to
98 DEFEAT AND RESIGNATION [CHAP, n
submit his exact proposal in writing to Her Majesty. It
will be noticed that, in his memorandum, Disraeli treats the
party which was about to go into opposition as in no mere
conventional language but in a very real sense ' Her Ma-
jesty's Opposition/ to be directed not only with a view to
the promotion of its own principles but with constant re-
gard to the Queen's comfort, welfare, and advantage.
To Queen Victoria.
Nov. 23, 1868. Mr. Disraeli with his humble duty to your
Majesty. Pursuant to your Majesty's gracious intimation he
will endeavour to succinctly state what passed in audience with
reference to the condition of the Conservative party after the
General Election and his personal relations to it.
It was to be considered, 1st, whether it was for your Majesty's
comfort and advantage to keep the party together and, 2ndly,
whether if kept together it was expedient that Mr. Disraeli should
continue to attempt the task or leave the effort to younger
hands. It seemed desirable that the party should be kept to-
gether because, although not numerically stronger, its moral
influence appeared to be increased from the remarkably popular
elements of which the Conservative party was now formed under
the influence of the new Reform Act. Viewing England only,
the Conservative party in the House of Commons will represent
the majority of the population of that country.
This is a strange and most unforeseen result. It did not
appear after great deliberation that any person could guide
this party for your Majesty's comfort and welfare with the
same advantage as Mr. Disraeli, as no one could be so inti-
mately acquainted with your Majesty's wishes and objects as
himself.
It had been the original intention of Mr. Disraeli on the
termination of this Ministry to have closed his political career
and to have humbly solicited your Majesty to have bestowed upon
him some mark of your Majesty's favor, not altogether unusual
under the circumstances. / ,
When the leader or Speaker of the House of Commons has
been elevated by the Sovereign to the peerage, the rank accorded
to him hitherto has been that of Viscount. And on this ground,
that otherwise his inferiors in political position, who had been
elevated often by his advice while he held either of these great
posts, would take precedence of him who had been the chief in
the Commons or who had presided over and controlled the de-
1868] A PEERAGE FOR MRS. DISRAELI 99
bates. This was felt so strongly by Lord Russell, that when
Sir C. Wood was elevated, who tho' an eminent was still a sub-
ordinate Minister, Lord Russell counselled your Majesty to
make him a Viscount, 1 otherwise in the House of Lords he
would have been in an inferior position to Sir B. Hall, 2 Mr. V.
Smith, 3 and others who in the House of Commons were im-
measurably his inferiors both in political rank and public repu-
tation.
Mr. Disraeli might say that, at his time of life and with the
present prospects, it is a dreary career again to lead and form
an Opposition party: but he does not say so, because in truth,
if in that post he could really serve your Majesty and your
Majesty really felt that, it would be a sufficient object and
excitement in public life, and he should be quite content even if
he were never Minister again.
But next to your Majesty there is one to whom he owes every-
thing, and who has looked forward to this period of their long
united lives as one of comparative repose and of recognised
honor. Might Mr. Disraeli therefore, after 31 years of Parlia-
mentary toil, and after having served your Majesty on more
than one occasion, if not with prolonged success at least with
unfaltering devotion, humbly solicit your Majesty to grant those
honors to his wife which perhaps under ordinary circumstances
your Majesty would have deigned to bestow on him?
It would be an entire reward to him, and would give spirit
and cheerfulness to the remainder of his public life, when he
should be quite content to be your Majesty's servant if not your
Majesty's Minister. He would humbly observe that no precedents
are necessary for such a course, but there are several.
When his friends on the formation of a new Govt. wished that
the elder Pitt, who only filled a subordinate office, should not
leave the House of Commons, his wife was created a peeress
in her own right as Baroness Chatham. When in very modern
times indeed in your Majesty's own reign Lord Melbourne
wished to induce Sir John Campbell to remain in the House of
Commons, and only as Attorney-General, his wife was created
Baroness Stratheden.
Mr. Disraeli is ashamed to trouble your Majesty on such per-
sonal matters, but he has confidence in your Majesty's gracious
indulgence and in some condescending sympathy on your
Majesty's part with the feelings which prompt this letter.
Mrs. Disraeli has a fortune of her own adequate to any posi-
1 Halifax. 8 Created Lord Lyveden.
2 Created Lord Llanover.
100 DEFEAT AND RESIGNATION [CHAP, n
tion in which your Majesty might deign to place her. Might
her husband then hope that your Majesty would be graciously
pleased to create her Viscountess Beaconsfield, a town with which
Mr. Disraeli has been long connected and which is the nearest
town to his estate in Bucks which is not yet ennobled?
From Queen Victoria.
WINDSOR CASTLE, Nov. 24, 1868. The Queen has received Mr.
Disraeli's letter, and has much pleasure in complying with his
request that she should confer a peerage on Mrs. Disraeli, as
a mark of her sense of his services. The Queen thinks that
Mr. Disraeli, with whom she will part with much regret, can
render her most useful service even when not in office; and she
would have been very sorry if he had insisted on retiring from
public life.
The Queen can indeed truly sympathise with his devotion
to Mrs. Disraeli, who in her turn is so deeply attached to him,
and she hopes they may yet enjoy many years of happiness
together.
The Queen will gladly confer the title of Viscountess Beacons-
field on Mrs. Disraeli.
The Queen cannot conclude without expressing her deep sense
of Mr. Disraeli's great kindness and consideration towards her,
not only in what concerned her personally, but in listening to
her wishes which were however always prompted by the sole
desire to promote the good of her country.
To Queen Victoria.
Nov. 25, 1868. Mr. Disraeli at your Majesty's feet offers to
your Majesty his deep gratitude for your Majesty's inestimable
favor and for the terms so gracious and so graceful in which
your Majesty has deigned to speak of his efforts when working
under a Sovereign whom it is really a delight to serve.
Though there was some ill-mannered comment in a por-
tion of the Radical press, public opinion in general accepted
Mrs. Disraeli's peerage as a graceful and appropriate recog-
nition of her husband's eminence and her own devotion.
Derby wrote : ' Pray let me be among the first to congratu-
late " Lady Beaconsfield " on her new honour. She will, I
am sure, receive it as a graceful acknowledgment, on the
part of the Crown, of your public services, unaccompanied
1868] STANLEY AND THE DISRAELIS 101
by the drawback of removing you from the House in which
(pace Sir R. Knightley) your presence is indispensable.'
And Gladstone concluded a formal letter to Disraeli about
the Speakership with a pleasant reference : 1 1 also beg of
you to present my best compliments on her coming patent to
(I suppose I must still say, and never can use the name for
the last time without regret) Mrs. Disraeli.' By a happy
thought, or a happy chance, the Secretary of State, who
signed the warrant for the issue of the patent of the new
peeress, was an old friend, Stanley.
To Lord Stanley.
10, DOWNING STREET, Nov. 27, '68. She was very much pleased
with your note; and still more, that you were destined to be
the Secretary of State, who performed the function.
There seemed a dramatic unity and completeness in the inci-
dent; bringing her memory back to old days, wanderings over
Buckinghamshire commons, when, instead of a great statesman,
you were only a young Under-Secy.
CHAPTER III
RESERVE iir OPPOSITION
1868-1871
The concentration of the Liberal party, which had been
a marked feature of the elections, was reflected in the com-
position of the new Government. Gladstone was able to
combine in his Cabinet both Whigs and Radicals, Reform-
ers and anti-Reformers, Clarendon and Goschen, Bright and
Lowe. Clarendon went to the Foreign Office as of right;
Lowe was very infelicitously placed at the Exchequer;
Granville was of course restored to that leadership of the
Lords which he had held with general acceptance under
Palmerston. No sooner was the Ministry constituted than
the Prime Minister set himself to work out in detail and
reduce to legislative form his Irish Church policy; with
such success that he was in a position to introduce his
measure within a fortnight of the reassembling of Parlia-
ment in February.
Meanwhile Disraeli's attention, almost immediately after
his retirement from office, was claimed by a family loss.
His youngest brother James, whose health had been failing
for some time, died very suddenly. He had been for ten
years a Commissioner of Excise. Disraeli described him
to Corry as ' a man of vigorous and original mind and great
taste,' and mentioned that he had left ' a collection of French
pictures of Louis Quinze period, and bricbracquerie, very
remarkable ; and of drawings by modern artists of the high-
est class.' Disraeli inherited a substantial sum, about
5,000, from his brother; but he did not enjoy the duties
of executor.
102
1868-1869] DEATH OF JAMES DISRAELI 103
To Lord Beauchamp.
GROSVENOR GATE, Dec. 24, '68. I was most distressed at miss-
ing to write to you by yesterday's post: but the death was so
sudden, everything so unprepared, everybody away, I finding
myself executor without having had the slightest hint of such
an office devolving on me, and having to give orders about
everything, and things which I least understand, and most dis-
like that I was really half distracted, and lost the post.
Amid sorrow, and such sorrow, one ought not to dwell upon
personal disappointments, but it is a great one to Lady Beacons-
field and myself, not to pass our Xmas with friends we so
dearly love, as Lady Beauchamp and her lord.
To Lord Stanley.
GROSVENOR GATE, Jan. 11, 1869. Your letter was very wel-
come, and very interesting, as your letters generally are. Events
affect the course of time so sensibly, that it came to me like a
communication from some one I had known in another life,
perhaps another planet. It seemed such long ages, since we
used to see each other every day, and communicate almost every
hour.
Here I have remained; and probably shall until the end of the
month, when we shall re-enter life by going to Burghley. I
have seen no one, and been nowhere, not even to a club ; I have
in fact realised perfect solitude : but I have found enough to do,
and regular hours are the secret of health. . . .
The General Election of 1868 sent Disraeli back once
more to that seat facing the box on the Speaker's left, in
which he had already spent so much of his Parliamentary
life. He had no doubt as to what must be the immediate
course of the Opposition. Just before the session was re-
sumed, he wrote to Stanley, declining an invitation to a
public dinner in Lancashire, and giving as his reason, ' I
think on our part there should be, at the present, the utmost
reserve and quietness.' Even when, in opposition to Pal-
merston, he commanded a formidable minority not much
short, in voting strength, of the forces of the Government,
he often practised tactics of the kind. Now that he was
facing a Minister who had behind him a large and enthusi-
astic majority such as Parliament had not seen since the
104 KESEEVE IN OPPOSITION [CHAP, in
fall of Peel, reserve was all the more imperative. Kicking
against the pricks was neither dignified nor useful. Plenty
of rope, to vary the metaphor, was what a wise Opposition
would extend to a Premier of boundless eagerness and ac-
tivity.
Accordingly the resistance which Disraeli offered to Glad-
stone's Irish Church Bill, though strenuous, was not pro-
longed. Nor was his speech on the second reading a very
successful effort. Salisbury in retrospect described it as
much below the orator's usual level; Hardy at the time
characterised it as ' sparkling and brilliant, but far from
earnest.' Perhaps the most interesting passage in it was
one protesting against the confiscation by the State of cor-
porate property, and especially of Church property, which
was ' to a certain degree an intellectual tenure ; in a greater
degree a moral and spiritual tenure. It is the fluctuating
patrimony of the great body of the people.' The constant
sense of the anomalous position of the Irish Church rather
paralysed Disraeli's efforts in its defence ; and in this second
reading debate the Opposition speaker who roused the en-
thusiasm which can only be produced by conviction as well
as eloquence was Gathorne Hardy.
But no conviction and no eloquence were of any avail
against a majority returned by the newly created con-
stituency to deal with this very question, and against a
Minister who conceived himself to be entrusted with a mis-
sion to pacify Ireland. The second reading was carried by
118. Though Disraeli told Archbishop Tait that it was
' a mechanical majority,' which ' created no enthusiasm,'
and gave the Archbishop the impression that he hoped to be
able to set the Liberal party by the ears, he realised that it
was impossible to resist the Bill with effect in the Com-
mons. He discouraged blind opposition to every clause in
Committee, urged his followers to concentrate on a few vital
amendments, and made no attempt at delay. The Bill,
therefore, in spite of its complexity, passed easily through
its various stages with the support of an undiminished ma-
1869] PROSPECTS OF CIVIL WAR IN IRELAND 105
jority, and on the last day of May was read a third time
by 114. Disraeli's speech on that occasion, though Hardy
was again dissatisfied and called it ' wretched/ contains at
least one passage which was highly prophetic. All who re-
member what the state of Ireland was at the moment of the
outbreak of the Great War in August, 1914, will realise that '
Disraeli had grasped the essentials of the Irish position,
which Gladstone and his followers glozed over with opti-
mistic sentimentalism. ' It is very possible,' he said, ' that
after a period of great disquietude, doubt, and passion,
events may occur which may complete that severance of the
Union [between England and Ireland] which tonight we
are commencing.'
What I fear in the policy of the ,right hon. gentleman [Glad-
stone] is that its tendency is to civil war. I am not surprised
that hon. gentlemen should for a moment be startled by such
an expression. Let them think a little. Is it natural and
probable that the Papal power in Ireland will attempt to attain
ascendancy and predominance? I say it is natural; and, what
is more, it ought to do it. Is it natural that the Protestants of
Ireland should submit without a struggle to such a state of
things? You know tbey will not; that is settled. Is England
to interfere? Are we again to conquer Ireland? Are we to
have a repetition of the direful history which on both sides now
we wish to forget? Is there to be another Battle of the Boyne,
another Siege of Derry, another Treaty of Limerick? These
things are not only possible, but probable. You are commencing
a policy which will inevitably lead to such results.
Disraeli looked to the Lords to secure better terms for
the Irish Church than Gladstone and the Commons were
disposed to accord. Directly the second reading was car-
ried he had written to the Archbishop urging him to call a
meeting at Lambeth of leading peers of various shades of
opinion, in order that the Upper House, whatever it might
ultimately decide to do, should not act on party lines or
under party leaders. * Every day,' he added, ' will make
us comprehend more clearly what is the real feeling of Eng-
land. It is on a just appreciation of that that the right
106 RESERVE IN OPPOSITION [CHAP, m
decision will depend.' The Archbishop, who had already
at the Queen's instance accepted a mediatory position, was
only too glad to do what he was asked. * I saw the Arch-
bishop of Canterbury to-day,' wrote Disraeli to Cairns on
April 14:, ' a long interview. He is in favour of reading the
Bill a second time, I think, tho' he does not wish to decide
on that prematurely; and he accedes to my suggestion of
summoning a preliminary meeting of peers at Lambeth to
consult.' There is reason to believe that Disraeli agreed
with the Archbishop's tactics. But he was in a difficult
position, as his authority with the Conservative peers was
very far short of what it ultimately became, and Derby, to
whom they looked, absolutely refused to attend the Lambeth
meeting, on the ground that l no consideration on earth '
would induce him to enter into any compromise on a measure
of the kind. The meeting was accordingly a failure, Cairns,
the leader in the Lords, showing, in view of Derby's atti-
tude, great reserve, though Salisbury and one or two others
agreed with the Archbishop. The Conservative peers met
at the Duke of Marlborough's house, and disregarded the
hesitations of their leaders. It was resolved to oppose the
second reading, in spite of the certainty that the rejection
of the Bill, immediately after a decisive General Election,
would provoke a constitutional crisis of the first magnitude.
Happily some of the leaders, acting we may well believe
with Disraeli's sympathy, were able, in conjunction with the
Archbishop, to effect by influence behind the scenes what
they had failed to carry at the party meeting ; so the Bill,
owing to many abstentions and thirty-six Tory votes in its
favour, was carried on second reading by the respectable
majority of thirty-three.
There followed a series of somewhat drastic amendments
making ampler pecuniary provision than the Bill allowed for
the Church about to be disestablished, and inserting the
principle of concurrent endowment by applying some of the
surplus to the needs of Roman Catholic priests and Presby-
terian ministers instead of converting it altogether to secu-
1869] IRISH CHURCH BILL PASSED 107
lar use. Concurrent endowment still, as in the previous
year, divided the friends of the Church; for Disraeli and
the majority of his colleagues were in favour, and Cairns
and some others strongly against. It is unnecessary here
to describe the game of battledore and shuttlecock which
was played over these amendments during June and July
between Lords and Commons, Ministers and ex-Ministers,
as the whole story has been set out in full in the Life of
Archbishop Tait, ch. 19, and Lord Morley's Gladstone,
Book VI., ch. 1, and Disraeli was hardly a protagonist.
That an arrangement, by which the Church obtained a con-
siderable slice of what her friends thought to be her right,
was finally arrived at was due mainly to the tireless efforts
of the Queen and the Archbishop, maintained in spite of
Gladstone's unconciliatory attitude, and to the willingness
of Cairns to assume at the last moment, without possibility
of due consultation, an onerous responsibility. Disraeli's
letters to Cairns show that it was the question of concurrent
endowment which gave him most trouble.
To Lord Cairns.
Confidential. GROSVENOR GATE, June 27, 1869. . . . What
I hear of the state of your House and of the Cabinet alarms
me; both conditions seem to me rather anarchical.
Your followers want a meeting, that they should be advised,
according to custom, as to what amendments they should sup-
port. But this I apprehend, might be embarrassing to you, from
your hesitation as to your course respecting the appropriation
of the surplus. The Government's truly idiotic scheme on that
head will not hold water. It is universally condemned, while
the general principle of some concurrent endowment seems to
gain ground, in both Houses, daily. It is thought that many
would support a liberal treatment of our own Church, if some-
thing were simultaneously done for presbyter and priest.
There can be little doubt I conceive, abstractedly, of the wis-
dom of such an arrangement. But what alarms me is the possi-
bility of your being put in the situation of supporting the Gov-
ernment with a fraction of your followers, and that not the most
influential, and dividing against the bulk of your friends.
This would be serious.
108 RESERVE IN OPPOSITION [CHAP, m
July 12. What I originally apprehended occurred last night,
and it will be now necessary to arranare our course, with r^ '
to ' concurrent endowment ' in the House of Commons. With
all our late colleagues there favorable to it, except perhaps Hardy,
this will not be a very easy business, looking to future conse-
quences as well as present results. . . .
Concurrent endowment was eventually abandoned. Dis-
raeli sent his wife early intelligence of Cairns's arrange-
ment:
To Lady Beaconsfield.
July 22, '69. The Irish Church Bill is settled. Cairns has
made a compromise with Lord Granville; which saves the honor
of the Lords, and will satisfy all moderate men. I don't think
the more decided spirits on either side will like it as much.
I am obliged to hold my tongue even to my colleagues, as
Cairns is to announce the terms. They may be known soon
after this reaches you, but it will be prudent not to send the
news to anyone.
Perhaps the Archbishop's comment in his diary best sums
up the net result :
We have made the best terms we could, and, thanks to the
Queen, a collision between the two Houses has been averted;
but a great occasion has been poorly used, and the Irish Church
has been greatly injured, without any benefit to the Roman
Catholics.
The most strenuous opponent of the Irish Church Bill in
the Lords was the old Tory leader, Derby; it was he who
made the most stirring speech in the debate on the second
reading ; and, when the compromise over the Lords' amend-
ments was announced, he was so angry, Malmesbury tells
us, that he left the House. 1 It was the final scene of his
political life, and his natural life lasted only three months
longer. But, though his strength was failing, he was for
some weeks without actual illness, and Disraeli's last letter
i Mr. Alfred Gathorne Hardy, in Cranbrook, Vol. I., p. 271, records
' on Lord Cairns's authority ' that Lord Derby, though at first startled
and annoyed, ultimately expressed satisfaction with what was done.
1869] DEATH OF DERBY 109
to his old ' chief ' was apparently written without any
premonition of the approaching end.
To Lord Derby.
HUGHENDEN MANOR, Sep. 15, 1869.
MY DEAR CHIEF, I was delighted at hearing from Knowsley,
which recalled old times : not that I mean to say I was insensible
to the charms of your red venison, which I particularly appre-
ciate.
We have been here three weeks, and have literally not seen
a human being, beyond the dwellers on the soil. After the
session we visited for a few days some of our friends, and
among other places we found ourselves at Alton Towers. It
pleased me very much. Though in Staffordshire, it is on the
Derbyshire border, and combines the character of both counties :
the scenery is romantic and rich. As for the house, it is the
only thing I have ever seen that gave me an idea of the castle
of Barbe Bleu in Madame D'Aulnois's wondrous tale. It is so
various and fantastic.
We are now literally stepping into the carriage to pay a visit
of a couple of days to Bulstrode. The late Duke of Somerset
bought the park from the Minister Portland, who pulled down
the mansion where lived Judge Jeffreys, and began building a
castle, but, being turned out of office, he fancied he was ruined,
and sold the place. The present Duke of Somerset has built
a fair and convenient dwelling, in the Tudor style, in the park,
which is undulating and well-timbered : but I dare say you may
remember it when you were at Eton.
Pray make our kindest remembrances to Lady Derby. I shall
take the liberty of writing to you sometimes, if I have anything
to say, and you, perhaps, will not entirely forget Your devoted D.
Early in October the last illness began, and on the 23rd
the end came. To Disraeli Derby's death was the severance
of the most momentous political connection of his life, a
connection which had survived Derby's resignation and his
own succession to the first place. The long and intimate
association with one of a social position so much higher,
and a political reputation so much longer and at first so
much greater, had tended to habituate Disraeli to the part
of inspirer of measures and policies for which Derby bore
the main public responsibility; and there is probably some
110 KESEEVE IN OPPOSITION [CHAP, ra
truth in Fraser's assertion that Disraeli's ' fixed idea ' was
1 that he was to be the mysterious wirepuller ; the voice be-
hind the throne; unseen, but suspected. That he should
rise to be the absolute monarch, which he was at last, does
not seem to have been anticipated by him.' So far as
Fraser's view is correct, Derby's death was the emancipa-
tion of Disraeli.
To Lord Stanley.
HUGHENDEN, Oct. 25, '69. It is with reluctance, that I in-
trude on you at this moment, overwhelmed, as you must be,
with sorrows, cares, and duties; the memory of the past and the
responsibility of the future. But I cannot refrain from express-
ing to you the sympathy of friendship.
As for the great departed, there existed, between him and
myself, relations wh. have rarely been maintained between two
human beings; twenty years, and more, of confidential public
life, tried by as searching incidents as can well test men. I
remember at this moment, not without solace, that there never
was any estrangement between us; and that I have to associate
with his memory no other feelings, than those of respect and
regard.
How well justified was Disraeli's claim, in spite of oc-
casional misunderstandings, has been shown throughout this
biography. Lennox wrote to him from Paris : ' I fear you
will have felt Lord Derby's death much. He was, with all
his peculiarities, very true to you.' Disraeli, too, for his
part, was ' very true ' to Derby ; even in the deferential
manner with which he used, as his secretaries noticed, to
clinch disputed matters when in office by the phrase, ' Lord
Derby wishes it.' He paid a worthy tribute to his old chief
when, as Prime Minister, he unveiled in 1874 the statue of
the l Rupert of debate ' in Parliament Square ; but he ob-
served on that occasion a dignified reticence as to their
personal relations. The qualities which he singled out for
eulogy were l his fiery eloquence, his haughty courage, the
rapidity of his intellectual grasp ' ; ( his capacity for labour
and his mastery of detail, which never were sufficiently ap-
preciated because the world was astonished by the celerity
1868-1869] PARTY LEADERSHIP IN THE LORDS 111
with which he despatched public affairs.' He summed up
Derby's share in the great transactions of the previous
years in a noteworthy sentence : ' He abolished slavery, he
educated Ireland, and he reformed Parliament.' l It was
not for him to say what history records, that one of Derby's
claims to the interest of posterity was his intimate associa-
tion with the career of Benjamin Disraeli.
Derby's death sensibly affected the evolution of a ques-
tion which, during the first year and more of opposition,
caused Disraeli some trouble the leadership of the party
in the House of Lords. Malmesbury, who had filled the
post during 1868, was indisposed to continue after the Gen-
eral Election. In Disraeli's view, Cairns, the ablest man
on the Conservative front bench in that House, ought to be
the successor. But so great was the impression that Salis-
bury's character and abilities had created that, in spite of
his secession from, and denunciation of, his colleagues over
the Reform Bill, there was a movement among the peers to
choose him; and even Cairns sounded him on the subject.
Disraeli promptly made it clear that he could concur in no
such arrangement.
To Lord Cairns.
Confidential. GROSVENOR GATE, Dec. 14, 1868. Taylor came
to me yesterday, much perplexed and alarmed about a conversa-
tion, between Colville and yourself, as to the leading in the
Lords. I told him I had seen you on the matter, and would see
you again, if necessary. He thinks, unless we act with some
decision, we may injure our position.
The Leader in the Lords must be one who shares my entire
confidence, and must act in complete concert with myself. I do
not know whether Lord Salisbury and myself are even on speak-
ing terms.
You contemplate making a man leader of a party of which he
is not even a member. If we show strength in Parliament and
the country, it is probable, in due time and course, he will join
us. If we try to force the result, we shall only subject ourselves
to humiliation.
i ' Every word of your admirable speech went to my heart, you un-
derstood my dearest husband so well,' wrote the widowed Lady Derby.
112 RESEEVE IN OPPOSITION [CHAP, m
Parliament will not virtually meet till the middle of February,
and you ought to meet it aa the leader of the party in the Lords.
Salisbury himself realised the impropriety of the sug-
gestion, urged Cairns to accept, and promised him cordial
and earnest support. Accordingly Cairns, though very
reluctant owing to his semi-judicial position as ex-Chancellor
and his recent creation as a peer, consented, and was elected
unanimously. One session, however but that session an
exceptionally trying one, owing to the controversy over
the Irish Church Bill convinced him that his objections
were sound and should prevail; and he wrote to Disraeli
on September 27 that he had made up his mind to resign.
Not only was he anxious to devote considerable time to
the judicial business of the House of Lords, but he had
felt in the recent debates that his authority had not been
duly regarded by the party. ' The more anxious part of
the labours of the session has been, not the resisting the
measures of our opponents, but the endeavouring to avoid
the appearance of disunion among our friends. I have little
capacity for either operation, but for the later I have abso-
lutely none.' The state of Lady Cairns' s health, he added,
had made it necessary for him to pass the entire winter
abroad, so that in any case there would be a temporary in-
terruption of his leadership; and he considered this a fit-
ting opportunity for his permanent withdrawal from it.
To Lord Cairns.
Private. HUGHENDEN MANOR, Sep. 29, 1869. The receipt of
a letter, like yours, ought immediately to be acknowledged.
At present, I can only say, that I have read it with conster-
nation. When I recover from its contents, if I ever do, I will
endeavor to consider the perplexities of our sad situation, now
so much aggravated, and will communicate with you.
There was no need to come to any decision in -the early
months of the recess ; and the death of Derby, by transfer-
ring Disraeli's friend and political pupil, Stanley, to the
Lords, seemed to open out a satisfactory solution. But
1869] CAIRNS, DERBY, AND DISRAELI 113
the new head of the house of Stanley was slow to move
and to take risks; and friends and colleagues found it im-
possible to obtain any definite promise during the autumn.
To Lord Derby.
CARLTON CLUB, Nov. 20, 1869. We came up from Strath-
fieldsaye yesterday, and I found your kind recollection of your
old comrade.
Never was a present more opportune ; and I dined off a Knows-
ley hare yesterday, and breakfasted off a Knowsley pheasant
this morning: both first-rate.
I am qprry to hear, that the House of Lords is to meet, so
far as our friends are concerned, as acephali. It will, of course,
at first, produce great scandal; but I have witnessed so many
' breaks-up ' of the party, that I have come to view them as
Talleyrand did his ' revolutions ' with sanguine indifference.
To Lord Cairns.
Private. HUGHENDEN MANOR, Deo. 12, 1869. . . . I saw*
Stanley when in town, and he is coming to stay here on our
return from Blenheim, which I suppose will be about the six-
teenth or so.
Nothing could be more cordial or more satisfactory, than the
expression of his relations towards myself, but I could not expect
any man to walk into a House of Parliament for the first time,
and at once offer to take the conduct of affairs. Certainly I
could not expect such a course from a man of the cautious and
usually reserved habit of the present Lord Derby.
The arrangement you have decided on, 1 tho' I regret the per-
sonal inconvenience it may entail, appears to me the most judi-
cious to be pursued; at once prudent and conciliatory.
I trust that all will develop satisfactorily, and I count on your
continued counsel and support. . . .
To Lord Derby.
HUGHENDEN MANOR, Dec. 16, 1869. . . . We shall be delighted
to receive you next Tuesday, the 21st. Although the shortest
day, it is my birthday, wh : will be a sort of hedge, and I shall
look out, in consequence, for a bottle of the best Falernian.
I met Hardy at B[lenheim] and had much gossip about the
* To come over from Mentone for the meeting of Parliament, hold
the usual Peers' dinner, and then formally resign.
114 RESEKVE IN OPPOSITION [CHAP, ra
H. of Lords with the Duke, hut this and many other things
will keep. Excuse a frozen hand.
The choice of a leader in the Lords did not, of course,
rest with the party chief who sat in the Commons or even
with the party as a whole, but with the Conservative peers
themselves; as Disraeli explained to a correspondent who
suggested a joint meeting of the Conservatives in both
Houses to make the election.
To William Johnston of BallyTcilbeg.
HUGHENDEN MANOR, Dec. 8, 1869. The leader of a party in a
House of Parliament is never nominated: the selection is al-
ways the spontaneous act of the party in the House in which
he sits. It was so in the case of Lord Cairns, who yielded
most unwillingly to the general wish, Lord Salisbury being one
of the warmest of his solicitors. It was so in my own case.
Lord Derby never appointed me to the leadership, but the party
chose to follow me and the rest ensued.
The same jealousy of interference with an arrangement in
which their own feelings and even tastes should pre-eminently
be consulted would no doubt be felt, if the leadership of a House
was to be decided by the votes of those who did not sit in it.
I make no doubt our friends in the House of Lords will in
due season find their becoming chief; but our interposition will
not aid them, they will be better helped to a decision by
events. . . .
The claims of Salisbury were once more advocated by a
section, but there was a general feeling that the man best
able to unite the party would be Derby. Would he accept ?
Hardy described him in his diary in December as ' not quite
willing, but showing symptoms of persuadability.' He was
elected unanimously at the beginning of the session of 1870,
Salisbury seconding the nomination, which was proposed
by the Duke of Richmond. He took a day to consider,
and then declined ; as Hardy in restrospect wrote, ' He
knew himself better than he was known.' Thereupon
Carnarvon put forward the impracticable plan that Salis-
bury should take an independent lead in and for the Lords,
without holding any confidential communication with the
1869-1870] SALISBURY'S ATTITUDE 115
leader in the Commons, who happened also to be the leader
of the party. The plan was not merely impracticable; it
would also have been not far short of an insult to Disraeli.
This absurdity was avoided, and finally Richmond, who had
joined the Cabinet in 1867 when the three seceded, accepted
the * uncoveted position,' * being proposed by Salisbury
and seconded by Derby. Salisbury manifested throughout
a disposition to resume friendly working relations with his
old friends except with Disraeli.
How unchanged was his attitude to Disraeli had been
shown in an article which he wrote in the Quarterly Review
in the autumn of 1869, on ' The Past and the Future of
Conservative Policy.' This renewed attack formed the
logical sequel of the articles in 1860 and 1867, 2 and like
them condemned severely the tactics of selecting the Whigs
for hostility and the Radicals for alliances. In the Reform
Act the party had committed a * great Parliamentary sui-
cide.' A lurid picture .was drawn of the degradation and
danger of office without power, as revealed in past history.
Though Disraeli's name was never mentioned, it required
only the most superficial knowledge of politics to under-
stand that it was he who was portrayed as the ' dishonest
man,' the ' mere political gamester,' to whom office in a
minority afforded too tempting a field; that it was his
' baseness ' and ' perpetual political mendicancy ' that the
writer was chastising ; that he was the parliamentary leader
whose conduct was described as worthy of unmitigated con-
tempt.
To Sir Anthony de Rothschild.
HUGHENDEN MANOR, Dec. 30, 1869. A battalion of pheasants,
and some hares, arrived here yesterday, without any label, but
the porter said, that, tho' it had been lost, there was no doubt
that the game was for Hughenden and that it had come from
Aylesbury.
No one in that direction cd. be so magnificent except yourself.
You not only send many pheasants, but you send pheasants worth
1 See Gathorne Hardy, Vol. I., pp. 294, 295.
2 See Vol. IV., pp. 285-293, 556, 557.
116 RESERVE IN OPPOSITION [CHAP, in
eating; nothing could be finer than those wh. preceded the last
arrivals.
There is no middle state in this bird. A pheasant is ' aut
Caesar, aut nihiU . . .
To Lord Derby.
GROSVENOB GATE, Feb. 1, 1870. Will you come and dine at a
large House of Commons dinner forty here on Wednesday
the 16th?
And if you will, wh. will please them much, shall I ask some
swells to meet you, K.G.'s and that sort of thing or would you
prefer being the sole swell, like a big boy to the old school for a
day? I think that would be more characteristic, but just as
you please. 1
The disestablishment of the Irish Church did less than
nothing for the moment to promote that pacification of
Ireland towards which it was to be the first step ; a tempest
of sedition and crime swept in 1869 over the island which
Abercorn and Mayo, the Tory Viceroy and Chief Secretary,
had brought into comparative order. Gladstone, though he
admitted, in the language of the Queen's Speech of 1870,
that ' the recent extension of agrarian crime in several
parts of Ireland ' had caused the Government ' painful con-
cern/ held it to be all the more imperative to proceed with
his second Irish measure, a Land Bill ; and Disraeli, in his
speech on the Address, promised a candid consideration for
Ministerial proposals, though he pointed out that the tenure
of land in Ireland was an old grievance, and could not
possibly be the immediate cause of the present disorder.
That disorder he attributed mainly to the extravagant hopes
which the policy of the Government and the language of
their supporters had encouraged. The Irish people rea-
soned : ' Is it not a natural consequence that if you settle
the question of the Irish Church by depriving the bishops
and rectors of their property, you will settle the question
of the land by depriving the landlords of their property ? '
i Derby accepted the second alternative ; but the dinner had to be
abandoned, as Disraeli, when the time came, was confined to his room
by illness.
1870] CRIME IN IRELAND 117
Disraeli called attention to a recent election for Tipperary
in which the Government candidate, who had been Law
Adviser at Dublin Castle, pledged himself to an extreme
policy, and yet was beaten by a convicted Fenian, O'Donovan
Rossa. ' The people of Ireland had to choose between a
sham Fenian and a real Fenian, and it is astonishing what
a preference is always given to the genuine article.' Then
the Government, long so tolerant of disorder, at last took
action.
Horrible scenes of violence had been occurring in Ireland,
but the Government would never move. Landlords were shot
down like game, respectable farmers were beaten to death with
sticks by masked men; bailiffs were shot in the back; policemen
were stabbed; the High Sheriff of a county going to swear in
the grand jury was fired at in his carriage and dangerously
wounded; households were blown up, and firearms surreptitiously
obtained. All this time the Government would not move; but
the moment the Government candidate was defeated at the
hustings a Government candidate pledged to confiscation,
pledged to a course of action which would destroy all civil
government the moment that occurred there was panic in the
Castle, there was confusion in the Council; the wires of Alder-
shot were agitated; troops were put in motion, sent across from
Liverpool to Dublin, and concentrated in Waterford, Tipperary,
and Cork. ... I remember one of Her Majesty's Ministers
[Bright] saying, I think last year, ' Anyone can govern Ireland
with troops and artillery.' So it seems; even that right hon-
ourable gentleman.
The speech appears to have been generally admired.
Malmesbury wrote to Cairns : l Lady Tankerville says that
at the opening of the session Bright had become dizzy, and
Dizzy had become bright.'
To Sir Joseph Napier.
Confidential. GROSVENOR GATE, Feb. 21, 1870. It is eighteen
years since you and I first conferred together about an Irish
Land Bill. It was a great thing then for me to have such an
adviser, and it would have been a wise thing if our friends had
adopted the result of our labors.
Now I am in a very different situation. Not a single Irish
118 RESERVE IN OPPOSITION [CHAP, ra
lawyer in the H. of Commons, at least on our benches, except
Ball, who is of course in the diocese of Armagh; even Cairns
has departed for Mentone. On the 7th I have to express my
views on the Government Bill. What a situation for the leader
of a party ; as Bright says, ' still a great party ! '
Under these circumstances I write to you, my old confederate.
Can you find time from your ecumenical council to give me the
results of your reflections on the Government scheme, and such
materials as may be opportune and profitable to me?
I don't even know whether the Ulster right can be enforced
in court of law, and there is nobody here to tell me! I must
therefore summon ' Napier to the rescue.'
Gladstone's Bill was directed to the security of the Irish
tenant, who, contrary to the usual practice in England, had
generally received his land in a prairie condition from the
landlord, and had done all the draining, reclaiming, fencing,
farm-building, and other improvement himself. By custom
in Ulster and in some other parts of Ireland, so long as
the tenant paid his rent he could not be evicted; and on
giving up his farm he could claim compensation for un-
exhausted improvements and sell the goodwill for what it
would fetch in the market. Where no custom prevailed,
the landlord was at liberty to raise the rent in proportion
as the tenant improved the land, and to evict him at will
without compensation. Roughly speaking, Gladstone's Bill
turned the Ulster custom into law and extended it through-
out Ireland, thus giving the Irish tenant an estate in the
land he f armect So far as the measure provided for com-
pensation, and retrospective compensation, to the tenant,
Disraeli was heartily in its favour, as this was one main
principle of the Bills which Napier prepared under his
auspices in 1852 ; and he therefore announced on the second
reading that some legislation was necessary and that he
should support the Bill in principle. But he had his doubts
about the wisdom of turning custom into law.
The moment you legalise a custom you fix its particular char-
acter ; but the value of a custom is its flexibility, and that it adapts
itself to all the circumstances of the moment and of the locality.
1870] IRISH LAND LEGISLATION 119
All these qualities are lost the moment you crystallise a custom
into legislation. Customs may not be as wise as laws, but they
are always more popular. They array upon their side alike the
convictions and the prejudices of men. They are spontaneous.
They grow out of man's necessities and invention; and, as
circumstances change and alter and die off, the custom falls
into desuetude and we get rid of it. But if you make it into
law, circumstances alter, but the law remains, and becomes part
of fhat obsolete legislation which haunts our statute-book and
harasses society.
Disraeli deplored the interference with freedom of con-
tract effected by the Bill; but Gladstone asked with some
force whether Disraeli would allow the tenant to contract
himself out of its benefits. By far Disraeli's shrewdest and
most incisive criticism was that the Bill terminated * at
one fell swoop all moral relations between the owner and
occupier/ and endeavoured to establish a purely commercial
relation between them. Yet, if ever there was a state of
society where the relations should be paternal, where for-
bearance should be shown to the tenant who from vicissitudes
of seasons is in arrear with his rent, it was Ireland, where
there were farmers holding only one acre. Hitherto small
tenants had not appealed in vain * to the distinguished facil-
ity and good nature of the Irish landlord.' But why should
forbearance be shown when the tenant in arrear is a co-
partner, in getting rid of whom the landlord has a direct
interest, and when the payment of rent is the only bond?
Disraeli developed this point in Committee, when he re-
duced the majority of the Government to seventy-six on an
amendment limiting compensation to unexhausted improve-
ments. The landlord would say to the tenant in future,
argued Disraeli, * We must both stand upon our rights.
This new-fangled law, which has given you a contingent
remainder to the third of my freehold, has at least given
me this security, that if you do not pay me your rent I may
get rid of you.' Evictions would naturally follow; there
would be a new grievance, the payment of rent; and the
non-payment of rent would become a principle asserted by
120 RESERVE IN OPPOSITION [CHAP, m
the same rural logic which had produced the crimes and
horrors of the past year. There would be great complaints
of vexatious and tyrannical evictions, and the occupiers
would assert their supposed rights by the most violent
means. ' So far from the improvement of the country
terminating all these misunderstandings and heartburnings,
which we seem now so anxious on both sides of the House to
bring to a close, you will have the same controversies still
raging, only with increased acerbity, and under circum-
stances and conditions which must inevitably lead to in-
creased bitterness and increased perils to society.'
It was a speech of extraordinary prescience, predicting
with exactness the course which the agrarian movement
followed in Ireland during the next ten or fifteen years.
In painful contrast was Gladstone's optimistic reply, in-
sisting that the measure was an exceptional one to meet a
temporary need, and expressing the hope that the time
would come when it would be no longer necessary and free-
dom of contract would be restored. Though he anticipated
the failure of Gladstone's scheme, Disraeli did not realise,
any more than Gladstone, that the creation by the aid of
the State of a peasant proprietary was, as Bright with real
vision maintained, and subsequent history has shown, the
true remedy for agrarian discontent in Ireland. To placate
Bright, Gladstone did indeed frame some inadequate clauses
with this object, but he laid no stress on them, and Disraeli
even singled out these clauses for disapproval. However,
having recognised the necessity of legislation, Disraeli dis-
couraged divisions on both second and third readings ; and,
the Opposition in the Lords following the example of the
Commons, the experiment which Gladstone sanguinely advo-
cated was duly tried and proved so inadequate that in
ten years its author had, with unabated optimism, to set his
hand once more to the same task.
The other great measure of the session, the one whose
passage was perhaps the foremost distinction of Gladstone's
Ministry, Forster's Education Bill, was actively assisted
1870] FORSTER'S EDUCATION BILL 121
by the Conservative party, under Disraeli's direction. He
had claimed at Edinburgh, in the autumn of 1867, that
from his entry into public life he had done his best to
promote the cause of popular education. He had given
it a prominent place in his address when first elected for
Bucks in 1847; one of the outstanding features of his
scheme for administrative reform in 1855 was the consti-
tution of education as a separate Ministry with a Secretary
of State as its head; the Derby-Disraeli Government of
1858 appointed the Newcastle Commission on the subject;
and, while the last Palmerston Government had persistently
neglected to take any steps in consequence of the Commis-
sion's Report, save to enforce the very questionable recom-
mendation of payment by results, Disraeli's first Ministry
in 1868 prepared and submitted, through the Duke of
Marlborough, to the House of Lords, a comprehensive
scheme which, at least in the importance attached to the
Education Department, was even in advance of Forster's
measure. But Forster introduced the principle of a local
rate which Disraeli's Ministry had shirked, and his scheme,
while increasing the Government grants to denominational
schools, mainly belonging to the Church of England, already
in existence, provided for supplementing their deficiencies
by the creation of school boards all over the country, which
should establish and conduct rate-aided schools, so that
elementary education should be ultimately provided for
every English child. The great difficulty, then as sub-
sequently, proved to be the religious teaching. The gen-
eral sense of the House and of the country was that the Bible
should be read and that there should be religious education
in all schools, guarded by a conscience clause; but the
Radicals and the bulk of the Dissenters pressed for an en-
tirely secular system. This the Government could not
concede; but they ultimately accepted a compromise, pro-
posed by Cowper Temple, a Whig, providing that, while the
Bible should be read and explained, no catechism or other
distinctive formulary should be taught in a board school.
122 KESEKVE IN OPPOSITION [CHAP, ra
Disraeli immediately fastened on the weakness of this ar-
rangement. The schoolmaster could not, he pointed out,
teach, enforce, and explain the Bible without drawing some
conclusions, and what could those be but dogmas ? ' You
will not entrust the priest or the presbyter,' he said, l with
the privilege of expounding the Holy Scripture to the
scholars ; but for that purpose you are inventing and estab-
lishing a new sacerdotal class. The schoolmaster who will
exercise these functions . . . will in the future exercise
an extraordinary influence upon the history of England and
upon the conduct of Englishmen.' In a speech in the
autumn at a Bucks diocesan meeting he described the new
Act, though it was a step in advance, as but a measure of
transition, with which the English people would not be
satisfied in the long run. They would require richer and
more various elementary education, and, when they obtained
that, they would require a religious education, because as
their intelligence expanded and was cultivated they would
require information as to the most interesting of all knowl-
edge the relations which exist between God and man.
The various subsequent modifications in our education
policy, culminating in the Act of 1902, and in Mr. Fisher's
Bill of the current year (1918), testify to Disraeli's fore-
sight. With one immediate result of Forster's policy he
must have been well content the opening of a rift between
the Gladstone Ministry and its erstwhile devoted supporters,
the political Dissenters. He was careful to avoid incon-
siderate attacks which might draw his opponents together.
Not merely the policy of reserve which he had deliberately
adopted, but ill-health of a continued character greatly re-
stricted Disraeli's activities during the session ; and on sev-
eral occasions he had to rely upon Hardy, his ' sword-arm,'
to take his place. Writing to Lennox in July he said : ( I
have been unwell all this year, and am afraid I have thought
too much of myself. Illness makes one selfish and disgusts
one's friends.' A letter to Northcote, who had gone to
1870] ILL-HEALTH 123
Canada, as Chairman of the Hudson Bay Company, in con-
nection with disputes between the company and the Canadian
Government, gives a picture of the work of the session up
to May.
To Sir Stafford Northcote.
GROSVENOR GATE, May 14, 1870.. . . The Land Bill after
Easter moved ; and then, like a ship on the stocks, moved rapidly.
T think the Lords will certainly have it before Whitsun. It has
been greatly modified in Committee much by the Govt. yield-
ing to Roundell Palmer and Co.; and much by our friend Ball,
who has shown as much resource and knowledge as on the
Irish Church Bill, and with a happier result We must be
cautious in not over-altering it in the Lords.
There is a hitch about the Education Bill. Gladstone, I ap-
prehend, is prepared to secularise, if he were only convinced he
could keep his majority together by that process. But the ele-
ments of the calculation are various and discordant, and every
possible result, therefore, doubtful.
The Ballot bothers me. Cross and the Lancashire men are
all in favor of it, and say that at this moment we should carry
every great town in the North, were it adopted. But I apprehend
the great body of our friends would not like to see it applied
to counties; and then there are Ireland and Scotland and Wales
also to be remembered. We are going to have a council in a
day or two; the leading members of both Houses, and some
representative men. I miss you sadly on these occasions, and
indeed always.
The great social event is Derby's approaching marriage. He
is radiant with happiness. Literally you would not know him.
I can't say much for myself. I have been to the seaside; but
it has brought me no relief, and I still suffer, which is dis-
heartening. . . .
Derby was about to marry Salisbury's stepmother, who
had long been a friend of Disraeli's, and had frequently
entertained him at Hatfield during the last twenty years.
To his sister he described her in 1851 as ' an admirable
hostess and a very pleasing woman ; great simplicity, quite a
Sackville.' l
i See Vol. III., p. 336.
124 EESEKVE IN OPPOSITION [CHAP, m
To Lord Derby.
GROSVENOB GATE, May 7, 1870. Next to yourself, by what
you tell me, no man, perhaps, will be happier, than I am. Under
this roof, we have long, and fondly, wished, that this shd. happen.
The lady I have ever loved; and if fine intelligence, a thought-
ful mind, the sweetest temper in the world, and many charms,
can make a man happy, your felicity is secured.
Marriage is the happiest state in the world, when there is,
on each side, a complete knowledge of the characters united.
That you have secured and to all the many blessings wh.
distinguish you in life, rank, wealth, and, above all, great
abilities, you have had the wisdom to add the only element, wh.
was wanting to complete the spell.
Lady Beaconsfield sends you her congratulations thro' her
tears of joy.
,/
To Gathorne Hardy.
GROSVENOR GATE, May 22, '70. I am sorry very to say,
that you must not count on me to-morrow to support and assist
you in the debate on University Tests, as was my hope, and firm
intention. My medicos declare that I must not attempt any-
thing like public speaking at present, and refrain, indeed, as
much as possible, from private.
Tho' I hope I shall get it all straight, my right lung is seri-
ously affected, and it is no use any longer to tamper with it.
Remedies, and quiet, and this hot weather, may put all to rights,
and in a short time, but I must try them.
It pains me to leave a faithful colleague to struggle alone
with a difficult question but you will do all that man can do,
which is my consolation, tho' not a sufficient one.
Hardy's own account of Disraeli's health and views is
given in his diary for May 22 : l Called on Disraeli, who
remains poorly and dreads the east wind. He is despond-
ing, but looks forward to Gladstone becoming useless to the
Radicals, and a disruption. Gives two years or more.'
To Lord Stanhope.
GROSVENOR GATE, July 17, '70. . . . I quite agree with you
about the division in the House of Lords : * avowedly to regulate
i On a motion by Salisbury, the recently elected Chancellor of the
University of Oxford, which defeated the second reading of the Uni-
versity Tests Bill.
MARY, COUNTESS OF DERBY.
From a portrait after J. Sivinton, at Hughendtn.
1870] FRANCO-GERMAN WAR 125
that assembly by the prejudices, or convictions, of the University
of Oxford, cannot be wise. Some think, however, that the great
event of the last eight and forty hours may bring about a state
of affairs more suitable to a policy of resistance, tho' that was
not contemplated by the instigator in the present instance.
I dined at York House, Twickenham, yesterday: a curious
and interesting moment to be a guest there. It was not won-
derful, that my host x should be somewhat excited. It is an
important break in the existence of himself and his brother
colonists. One of the guests, however, did not think so; and
said they were forgotten, and had done nothing to make them-
selves remembered. We shall see! They may be wanted. No-
body is forgotten, when it is convenient to remember him.
' The great event of the last eight and forty hours ' was
indeed calculated to alter men's views and affect their poli-
cies. The relations of France and Prussia had caused the
statesmen of Europe, and Disraeli among them, grave anxi-
ety ever since 1866 ; and when he wrote this letter to Stan-
hope a sudden dispute between the two countries over the
offer of the Spanish throne, to a Hohenzollern prince had,
in spite of the prince's withdrawal, been aggravated, by
Bismarck's unscrupulous manipulation and Napoleon's
fatal folly, into a quarrel which only the sword could de-
cide. A despatch from Ems, describing the diplomatic
proceedings between Benedetti, the French Minister, and
the King of Prussia, had been so dexterously edited by
Bismarck as to prove, as he hoped and expected, a red rag
to the Gallic bull. French mobilisation had been ordered ;
the Parisians were shouting ' To Berlin ' ; a declaration
of war was inevitable within a few days. Bismarck's share
in provoking the explosion was not then known ; and Disraeli
was at one with public opinion in England in casting all the
blame on Napoleon's ambition and French recklessness.
Moreover, in expressing the view that a Sovereign who
trusted to melodramatic catastrophes, such as military sur-
prises and the capture of capitals, would have to meet ' a
more powerful force than any military array,' namely, ' the
i The Comte de Paris.
126 RESERVE IN OPPOSITION [CHAP, m
outraged opinion of an enlightened world/ he showed that
he was not himself entirely emancipated from the senti-
mental optimism about international relations which was
rampant among his political opponents.
For a quarter of a century Disraeli had preached that
a good understanding with France should be the basis of
British foreign policy; and when in office, both in 1852
and in 1858-1859, had acted throughout in the spirit of
that creed. It was not without great reluctance, and only
after mature consideration and the experience of Napo-
leon's ambition and instability gained during his two years
and a half of office in 1866-1868, that, like Palmerston in
ihis latter days, he abandoned the theory as no longer prac-
. ticable ; and, in spite of a profound distrust of Bismarck's
policy, began to incline rather to the Court view that the
more natural affinity of Great Britain was with the Ger-
mans, who had often been our allies and never our enemies.
The behaviour of the French Government and people in
July, 1870, confirmed him in his new faith; and so too did
the calculated revelation, by Bismarck, at this critical mo-
ment, of the overtures made to (and perhaps perfidiously
provoked by) him, in 1866 and subsequently, to abet a
French conquest of Belgium in return for compensations
to Prussia in South Germany.
But, though Disraeli considered that the orientation of
our European policy must be changed, he was as determined
as the Government that Great Britain must preserve a strict
neutrality in the war. Only he insisted, in a speech on
August 1, that it must be an armed neutrality, a neutrality
which on the right occasion might speak with authority
to the belligerents. In such a neutrality he hoped we might
be able to secure the co-Operation of Russia. But, he asked,
were our armaments in a condition to enable us to adopt
this policy? This, though he omitted to claim the credit,
was a question he had every right to put, as the additions
to the navy and army estimates which his own Government
had wisely sanctioned were fiercely denounced by the Lib-
1870] THE NEUTRALITY OF BELGIUM 127
erals during the General Election of 1868; and the Glad-
stone Ministry, in spite of the unstable European equili-
brium, had boasted of the economies and reductions they
had effected during their two years of office. Disraeli had
made careful inquiries, as the Beaconsfield correspondence
shows, into the actual condition of our armed forces, and
warned the Government that there were defects urgently
requiring to be supplied. Let them remember the humilia-
tion the country suffered at the time of the Crimean War,
because of the failure of the Aberdeen Government to come
to a decision in time. Let them speak to foreign Powers
with that clearness and firmness which could only arise from
a due conception of their duties and a determination to ful-
fil them.
In this speech Disraeli dwelt upon the vital importance
of securing the neutrality and independence of Belgium,
guaranteed by the Treaty of 1839. Here he was forcing
an open door, as Ministers, moved by Bismarck's revelation,
negotiated a fresh treaty with France and Prussia, by which,
in the event of the violation of Belgian neutrality by either
of the belligerent Powers, England bound herself to co-
operate with the other to ensure its observance. This satis-
fied public opinion both in England and in Belgium; and,
though Disraeli expressed a doubt whether a fresh treaty
was required and whether a notice of England's firm de-
termination to uphold the Treaty of 1839 would not have
been sufficient, he accepted the resolve to maintain the in-
dependence of Belgium as a wise and spirited policy. ' It
is of the highest importance to this country that the whole
coast from Ostend to the North Sea should be in the posses-
sion of flourishing communities, from whose ambition, lib-
erty, or independence neither England nor any other coun-
try can be menaced.'
From Disraeli's correspondence of the autumn we can
obtain glimpses into his feelings as to the rapid and startling
German victories ; the announcement of the impending mar-
riage of a daughter of the Sovereign to a subject, Lord
128 RESERVE IN OPPOSITION [CHAP, m
Lome ; and the progress of Conservatism among the elector-
ate.
To Lord Derby.
GROSVENOR GATE, Aug. 17, 1870. I am here, the focus of all
intelligence, and where we get news sooner, than at Berlin or
Paris.
I do not much believe in the great battle, wh. they say is
going on. The French are in full retreat on their whole line,
and the Prussians, as is usual under such circumstances, are
following them up and harassing them. Being strong in
cavalry, the Germans have an additional advantage.
This collapse of France has all come from the Emperor's
policy of nationality. That has created Italy and Germany;
wh. has destroyed the French monopoly of Continental com-
pactness. The Emperor started this hare in order that he might
ultimately get Belgium. Belgium is safe and France is
smashed! . . .
England is busy at mediation, but Prussia thinks the Gauls
are not yet sufficiently humiliated. Russia jealous of Prussia,
yet hating France England strong in words, but a mediation
of phrases won't do.
P.S. I never was better: quite, quite myself.
To Lord Cairns.
Oct. 9, 1870. . . . I have entirely cured mine [gout] by giv-
ing up sugar, burgundy, and champagne almost as great a
surrender as Sedan!
To Montagu Corry.
HUGHENDEN, Oct. 9, '70. We go to-morrow to Lord Bathurst's,
and I expect to be in town on Friday night and on the follow-
ing Monday to Knowsley. We have refused almost every invi-
tation this year, and particularly those at a distance; but found
it impossible to say no to Lord and Lady Derby: the first
gathering of their friends. I look forward to the journey with
fear and trembling: having scarcely ever left this delicious place
in this delicious weather. . . .
To Queen Victoria.
[Oct. 1870,] Mr. Disraeli with his humble duty thanks your
Majesty for your gracious kindness in communicating to him
1870] . PRINCESS LOUISE'S MARRIAGE 129
through Lady Ely the very happy news of the approaching
marriage of the Princess Louise.
The engaging demeanor of Her Royal Highness, her beauty,
her sensibility and refined taste had always interested him in
her career and made him desirous that her lot should not be
unworthy of a nature so full of sweetness and promise.
What is about to happen seems to him as wise as it is roman-
tic. Your Majesty has decided with deep discrimination that
the time was ripe for terminating an etiquette which has become
sterile, and the change will be effected under every circum-
stance that can command the sympathy of the country.
Mr. Disraeli has the pleasure of knowing Lord Lome. The
gentleness of his disposition and the goodness of his temper
are impressed upon his countenance, which, while it is bright
with cultivated intelligence, could not, he feels sure, express
an evil passion.
Knowing the depths of your Majesty's domestic affection,
which the cares of State and the splendor of existence have
never for a moment diminished or disturbed, Mr. Disraeli feels
that he will be pardoned if he presumes to offer your Majesty
his sincere congratulations on an event which will consolidate
the happiness of your hearth.
There is no greater risk perhaps than matrimony, but there
is nothing happier than a happy marriage.
Though your Majesty must at first inevitably feel the absence
of the Princess from the accustomed scene, the pang will soften
under the recollection that she is near you and by the spell of
frequent intercourse. You will miss her, Madam, only like
the stars : that return in their constant season and with all their
brightness.
Lady Beaconsfield thanks your Majesty for your Majesty's
gracious enquiries after her. She is, I am happy to say, quite
well and singularly interested in the subject of your Majesty's
communication.
To Lord John Manners.
HUGHENDEN MANOR, Oct. 30, 1870. . . . France can neither
make peace or war. No country in modern times has been
placed in such a predicament, nor she herself at any time except
under Charles the 7th, whose reign she is fast reproducing.
She has no men now, as then. Will she have a maiden ? l
I am glad to hear of your working-man's meeting. My
!hope in them hourly increases. How well for the country that
i The reference is, of course, to Joan of Arc.
130 RESERVE IN OPPOSITION [CHAP, ra
we settled the suffrage question! The trading agitators have
nothing to say, or, if they open their mouths, are obliged to
have recourse to European Jacobinism. . . .
The Franco-German War had two by-products, both dis-
tasteful to Disraeli. The Italian Government seized the
opportunity offered by the withdrawal of the French gar-
rison and the serious plight of the French armies to enter
and occupy Rome, the last remnant of the Papal States,
and to restrict the Pope's temporal jurisdiction to St.
Peter's and the Vatican. Disraeli regretted the abasement
of anything that represented, as the Pope did, the spiritual
order ; but Protestant and Italophil England rejoiced. The
country, however, was as disturbed as was Disraeli when
Russia instead of combining, as he had hoped, with Great
Britain in a watchful and armed neutrality to impose peace
at a suitable moment on the belligerents took advantage
of France's critical position and of Britain's comparative
helplessness to notify the European Powers, that she would
no longer hold herself bound by the Black Sea neutralisa-
tion clauses of that Treaty of Paris, which France and
Britain, as victorious allies in the Crimean War, had forced
her to accept. Granville, who on Clarendon's death in
the summer had succeeded him as Foreign Secretary,
strongly protested; and the Government, by allowing their
agent to threaten a war with Russia which the Prime Min-
ister never seriously contemplated, obtained Bismarck's aid
in getting Russia to submit her claim to a Conference of
the Powers in London, with the understanding that the
modifications she desired would receive European assent.
To Lord Derby.
HUGHENDEN MANOR, Nov. 27, 1870. . . . The Govt. appear
to be in trouble, and probably will continue to be so. What-
[eve]r their ultimate decision, these matters take time. But,
no doubt, how [eve] r they may act, their embarrassment must be
great, for they can hardly avoid proposing increased armaments.
Gladstone wished a paragraph to be inserted in The Times
intimating, in dark and involved sentences, that he was not
1870-1871] RUSSIA AND TREATY OF PARIS 131
the writer, only the inspirer, of the Edin. Rev. Art. that is
to say, I suppose, dictated it to Mr. W. H. Gladstone or, perhaps,
to dr. Catherine herself but Delane refused his columns to
the communique and suggested a distinct letter from the Premier
himself, wh. never came. 1
Dorothy Nevill says that Lowe impressed on her to preach
the only gospel, ' Peace at any price,' and that she goes about
society preaching accordingly.
Lome, who has been here for a couple of days, is for cross
benches in the House of Commons : significant. . . .
To the Hon. Algernon Egerton.
[ Wee. 27, 1870.] I am honored by the wish of my Lancashire
friends that I should pay them a visit and very proud of it.
But in the present critical state of public affairs I doubt the
expediency of political gatherings.
I regret that Her Majesty's Ministers did not feel it con-
sistent with their duty to advise the summoning of Parliament
before Christmas, but that meeting cannot now be long delayed
and our position will then be ascertained from authority, and
we shall be better enabled to consider our prospects. Unques-
tionably they are serious, and I fear not likely to diminish
in gravity : but the people of Lancashire will be more qualified
to form an opinion upon them after the Speech from the Throne ;
and if at a fitting season in the course of next year they con-
tinue to care to hear my views of the condition of the country
I shall 'feel it a great and gratifying distinction to be their
guest.
To Lord Stanhope.
HUGHENDEN, Jan. 22, '71. . . . I think the avoidance of
Parliament, at such a crisis, is highly to be condemned: but
I doubt, whether delays will mend their position.
Next to Gambetta, the most wonderful man of the day is
i Lord Morley writes in Gladstone, Bk. VI., ch. 5 : ' It was about this
time that Mr. Gladstone took what was, for a Prime Minister, the
rather curious step of volunteering an anonymous article in a review,
upon these great affairs in which his personal responsibility was both
heavy and direct. The precedent can hardly be called a good one, for,
as anybody might have known, the veil was torn asunder in a few
hours. . . . The article . . . was calculated to console his countrymen
for seeing a colossal European conflict going on, without the privilege
of a share in it. One passage about happy England happy especially
that the wise dispensation of Providence had cut her off by the streak
of silver sea from Continental dangers rather irritated than con-
vinced.'
132 RESERVE IN OPPOSITION [CHAP, m
John Russell, who raises armies by a stroke of his pen, and
encourages the country almost in ' Cambyses' vein.' What
energy! At least in imagination.
To Lord Derby.
GROSVENOR GATE, Jan. 25, 1871. My views respecting French
affairs are the same as expressed in our talks at Knowsley in
the autumn, except that they are stronger. I can conceive
nothing more fatal, than our entering into the contest, or assum-
ing an anti-German position; and deeply regret the inveterate
manner in wh. Ld Salisbury works the Q \uarterly~\ Review],
and inspires the Standard, in that direction. No one has recog-
nised his powers more readily than I have done at all times, but
he is always wrong.
It is unnecessary for me, therefore, to say, that I entirely
agree with all you have written about France, and I shall be
careful to use no word in a contrary spirit.
I am not, however, sorry to see the country fairly frightened
about foreign affairs. 1st, because it is well, that the mind of
the nation should be diverted from that morbid spirit of do-
mestic change and criticism, which has ruled us too much for
the last forty years, and that the reign of priggism should
terminate. It has done its work, and in its generation very
well, but there is another spirit abroad now, and it is time that
there shd. be.
2nd. because I am persuaded that any reconstruction of our
naval and military systems, that is practicable, will, on the
whole, be favorable to the aristocracy, by wh. I mean particularly
the proprietors of land : and 3rdly because I do not think the
present party in power are well qualified to deal with the ex-
ternal difficulties wh. await them.
I cannot believe, that the conference, tho' peaceable, will be
satisfactory, because I understand we are to relinquish all we
fought for, and because I am persuaded that Russia will make
another move on the board in about six months' time.
Moreover, tho' I do not believe in an American war, I think
the U.S. are going to worry us. Their reduction of their over-
moderate armaments means nothing. Were there hostilities
bet [ wee] n U.K. and U.S., they trust to privateering mainly for
their naval offence, and their military institutions are of such
a character, that they can create a powerful army as quickly
as Germany. The Militia system of U.S. was always first-rate,
or, in the revolt, our Generals would not have been beaten by
a Militia Colonel!
1871] DISRAELI ON FRANCO-GERMAN WAR 133
I think the Government, with the information wh. they
possessed, were not justified in their reductions; that they com-
pletely blundered the business when the crisis arrived; and that
they do not comprehend our present position. On all these
points I shall attack them, and I shall not discourage the
country. And I hope you will not. With all your admirable
prudence, I always maintain you were really the boldest Minister
that ever managed our external affairs. Witness the Luxem-
burg guarantee! the way in wh. you baffled Russia about Crete,
when you were left alone; and the Abyssinian expedition all
successful and eminently successful, but daring. Made tua,
virtute !
When Parliament met, Disraeli attacked the Govern-
ment on the lines of his letter to Derby. While he prom-
ised full support for any measures they might propose to
increase our military strength, he repeated that an armed
neutrality might have prevented war and would certainly
shorten it. But how could such a policy be adopted by a
country without armaments? An armed neutrality was a
very serious thing for a nation that for a year and a half
had been disbanding its veterans; a nation with skeleton
battalions and attenuated squadrons, batteries without suffi-
cient guns, and yet more guns than gunners ; a nation with-
out a military reserve; a nation, moreover, which had left
off shipbuilding, reduced its crews and its stores, and failed
to furnish artillery for its men-of-war. This was our
plight when we were faced with an upheaval, the magnitude
of which was fully realised by Disraeli's vivid imagination.
Let me impress upon the attention of the House the character
of this war between France and Germany. It is no common
war, like the war between Prussia and Austria, or like the
Italian war in which France was engaged some years ago; nor
is it like the Crimean War. This war represents the German
revolution, a greater political event than the French revolution
of last century. I don't say a greater, or as great a social event.
What its social consequences may be are in the future. Not a
single principle in the management of our foreign affairs, ac-
cepted by all statesmen for guidance up to six months ago, any
longer exists. There is not a diplomatic tradition which has
not been swept away. You have a new world, new influences
134 KESERVE IN OPPOSITION [CHAP, in
at work, new and unknown objects and dangers with which to
cope, at present involved in that obscurity incident to novelty in
such affairs. We used to have discussions in this House about
the balance of power. Lord Palmerston, eminently a practical
man, trimmed the ship of State and shaped its policy with a
view to preserve an equilibrium in Europe. . . . But what has
really come to pass? The balance of power has been entirely
destroyed, and the country which suffers most, and feels the
effects of this great change most, is England.
The result of this destruction of the balance of power
was Russia's repudiation of the Treaty of 1856. Russia
had a policy which, if inevitably disturbing, was legitimate
and not blameworthy. She wished to get to the sea.
Disraeli maintained that she had already accomplished her
object, and had admirable harbours. But her further
policy, to obtain Constantinople, he pronounced to be il-
legitimate, like the French claim to have the Rhine. She
had no moral claim to Constantinople ; she did not represent
the race to which it once belonged ; she had two capitals al-
ready, and a third would produce a dislocation of the gen-
eral arrangement of her population. This was the policy
which we fought the Crimean War to frustrate; and now
the object for which we made serious sacrifices of valuable
lives and treasure was to be treated as moonshine and given
up in the Conference.
The line which Gladstone and the Government took in
answer to this argument was to assert that Palmerston and
Clarendon never believed that the neutralisation of the Black
Sea could last long, that they said so at the time to diplomat-
ists and in private conversation with friends, and that in
consequence they did not attach serious value or impor-
tance to that part of the treaty. Lord Morley seems to
accept these stories as credible and conclusive. Disraeli,
however, powerfully pointed out in a subsequent debate l
that England could have obtained all the other stipulations
of the Treaty of Paris at the Conference of Vienna in the
spring of 1855 ; but that Palmerston and Clarendon, sup-
i Feb. 24.
1871] GLADSTONE AND DISRAELI 135
ported by the country, did not hesitate to fight for an-
other year rather than make peace without obtaining the
neutrality of the Black Sea. And yet Ministers were pre-
pared ' to impute to statesmen of great eminence, and now
unfortunately departed, opinions not only which they did
not hold, but which were contrary to their convictions,
which contradicted their whole policy, and which would in-
timate that public men of the highest distinction who pro-
posed a policy, in enforcing which the treasure of the coun-
try was expended without stint, and the most precious lives
of the country were sacrificed, were laughing in their sleeves
at the excitement of the nation.' Disraeli suggested that
those who took Palmerston's private remarks about public
affairs too seriously forgot that that eminent man was a
master of banter, and disliked discussions of grave matters
when not in his cabinet or in the House of Commons.
Gladstone, with a deplorable lack of humour, had ad-
duced the fact that he had himself expressed in the House
in 1856 the confident conviction that it was impossible to
maintain the neutralisation of the Black Sea, as evidence
of the view taken by the country at the time. Disraeli
reminded him that he was then not a Minister, nor even
leader of Opposition, but the most unpopular member of
' a minute coterie of distinguished men who had no follow-
ing in the country,' and whose lukewarmness and hesita-
tion were supposed to have been responsible for the Crimean
War. It is no wonder that Gladstone winced under this
attack. ' The Premier was like a cat on hot bricks,' wrote
a looker-on, ' and presented a striking contrast to Disraeli ;
for Disraeli cuts up a Minister with as much sang-froid as
an anatomist cuts up a frog. Gladstone could hardly keep
his seat. He fidgetted, took a quire of notes, sent for blue
books and water, turned down corners, and " hear-heared "
ironically, or interrupted his assailant to make a denial of
one of his statements, or to ask the page of a quotation so fre-
quently that Disraeli had to protest once or twice by raising
his eyebrows or shrugging his shoulders. And when Glad-
136 RESERVE IN OPPOSITION [CHAP. HI
stone rose, you could ' see that every stroke of Disraeli's
had gone home. He was in a white passion, and almost
choked with words, frequently pausing to select the harsh-
est to he found.'
Disraeli satisfactorily vindicated Palmerston and Claren-
don, and the bona fides of British policy in 1855 and 1856,
but he observed a discreet silence about his own personal
opinion at the time, which he did not indeed obtrude in
those years in debate, but to which he had given frequent
vent in the Press. As may be remembered 1 he, like Glad-
stone, then thought that too much stress was laid on Black
Sea neutralisation, and that restrictions on the amount of
naval force to be maintained by a Sovereign Power were
illusory guarantees. So they had proved in this case to be,
and the Conference of London buried them decently to the
accompaniment of a special protocol recording that it was
' an essential principle of the law of nations that no Power
can liberate itself from the engagements of a treaty, nor
modify the stipulations thereof, unless with the consent of
the contracting Powers by means of an amicable arrange-
ment.' But the example of Russia's success proved more
powerful than a paper protocol. In 1908 Austria, one of
the signatories of the protocol, repudiated an integral por-
tion of the Treaty of Berlin, just as Russia in 1870 had re-
pudiated an integral portion of the Treaty of Paris; and-
under the threat of Germany in shining armour, Russia, the
Power disregarded in 1908, and Europe acquiesced, without
even providing a conference to give the repudiated clauses
decent burial.
What Disraeli said in the debate on the Address about
America was almost as noteworthy as what he said about
the Franco-Prussian War and the Russian thunderbolt.
The claims of the United States against Great Britain, aris-
ing out of the American Civil War, were still unsettled;
and, in consequence, the then customary licence of Amer-
ican public men in speaking of this country had exceeded
i See Vol. IV., ch. 1.
1871] WARNING TO AMERICA 137
all bounds, even the President himself and the Chairman
of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Senate having
joined in it. As Gladstone gracefully confessed in the de-
bate, ' the course of forbearance and prudence ' that Disraeli
pursued during the Civil War entitled him, if any man,
to be a critic in this matter without offence; and his criti-
cism was very plain and timely. The American tone to-
wards Great Britain, he said, was not, as he once thought,
an instance of ' the rude simplicity of Republican man-
ners ' ; because the American Government could be courte-
ous enough to other Powers, such as Russia or Germany.
It was only to Great Britain that they were insolent and of-
fensive; and it was because they believed that they could
adopt this attitude with impunity. It might be a mere
electioneering game; but Disraeli uttered an impressive
warning.
The danger is this they habitually excite the passions of
millions, and some unfortunate thing happens, or something
unfortunate is said in either country ; the fire lights up, it is
beyond their control, and the two nations are landed in a con-
test which they can no longer control or prevent. . . . Though
I should look upon it as the darkest hour of my life if I were
to counsel or even support in this House a war with the United
States, still the United States should know that they are not an
exception to .the other countries of the world; that we do not
permit ourselves to be insulted by any other country in the
world, and that they cannot be an exception. If once ... it is
known that Her Majesty's dominions cannot be assaulted with-
out being adequately defended, all this rowdy rhetoric, which is
addressed to irresponsible millions, and as it is supposed with im-
punity, will cease.
Gladstone had come triumphantly through the first two
sessions of the 1868 Parliament, and had carried three
great Acts the Irish Church Act, the Irish Land Act, and
the Education Act in such a manner as to enhance even
his Parliamentary reputation, and to confirm the position
of his Government. The session of 1871 saw a change.
Russia's high-handed action appeared to show that Great
138 RESERVE IN OPPOSITION [CHAP, ra
Britain under Gladstone enjoyed no particular considera-
tion in Europe, and his acquiescence in Russian demands,
thinly disguised under the paraphernalia of a conference,
hurt British self-respect and disposed people to look critically
upon the other proceedings of his Government. And partly
through ill-luck, but mainly through Ministerial inepti-
tude, there was much to criticise. Disraeli accordingly be-
came more active, and began those mordant and deftly
aimed attacks which were eventually to bring the Ministry
to the ground.
First of all, the Minister who had persuaded Parliament
to v discard the principles it cherished for England in order
to pacify Ireland, and who had in the winter testified to
his belief in the success of his policy by releasing the
Fenians still in prison, came nevertheless to Parliament,
for the third year in succession, for repressive legislation.
The motion which the Chief Secretary made was for a secret
Committee to inquire into the condition of an Irish county,
Westmeath, where life was rendered intolerable by gross
and constant outrages. Disraeli's taunts went home.
The right hon. gentleman [Gladstone] persuaded the people
of England that with regard to Irish politics he was in posses-
sion of the philosopher's stone. Well, Sir, he has been returned
to this House with an immense majority, with the object of
securing the tranquillity and content of Ireland. Has anything
been grudged him ? Time, labour, devotion whatever has been
demanded has been accorded, whatever has been proposed has
been carried. Under his influence and at his instance we have
legalised confiscation, consecrated sacrilege, condoned high trea-
son ; we have destroyed churches, we have shaken property to
its foundation, and we have emptied gaols; and now he cannot
govern a county without coming to a Parliamentary Committee !
The right hon. gentleman, after all his heroic exploits, and at
the head of his great majority, is making government ridiculous.
To Sir Stafford Northcote. 1
GROSVENOB GATE, Mar. 10, '71. We have had some disquietude
since you left us, and nearly a ministerial crisis. Gladstone
i Who was at Washington, as one of the Commissioners to negotiate
the Alabama treaty.
1871] A ' HARUM-SCARUM ' BUDGET 139
astonished us all by proposing a secret Committee on some Irish
counties, where anarchy is rampant and spreading. It seemed,
for four and twenty hours, that the Government must have
been beaten : and I was obliged to leave the House with Hardy
and between 50 and 60 of our friends to prevent a catastrophe,
or something approaching one. However, affairs now are calm
again, tho* the unpopularity of the Government, both in and
out of the House, [is] daily increasing. It we only had fifty
more votes, I could and would turn them out, but in the present
state of affairs, they must remain.
Politics seem also interesting in your part of the world, and
the expulsion of Sumner * from the seat of his ceaseless mischief
and malice seems to promise for the success of your mission.
If U.S. would give in their adhesion to the Paris Declaration, 2
my objections to that unwise document would certainly be miti-
gated, tho' I shall always regret that shallow surrender to wan-
ing Cobdenism. I could not however sanction the principle of
private property at sea, and I do not believe, in the present state
of the public mind, it would go down. There is a rising feeling
that stringent maritime rights are the best, perhaps only, check
and counterpoise against the military monarchies of the Conti-
nent. . . .
The Army Bill does not get on; the Radicals begin to think
that, after doing away with purchase, they will have as aristo-
cratic an army as before.
In the next place Lowe, whose Budgets Disraeli scornfully
qualified as ' harum-scarum/ produced his most harum-
scarum Budget of all. Having an estimated deficit, due
to additional military expenditure, of 2,700,000, Lowe
proposed to meet it by a tax on matches, an increase of the
succession duties, and an increase of 10s. 8d. per cent,
(slightly over 1*4(1. in the pound) in the income tax. Rich
and poor were alike disgusted. Popular discontent com-
pelled the Government incontinently to drop the match-
tax; the Whigs brought pressure to bear to prevent the in-
crease of the succession duties; and finally Gladstone an-
nounced that Ministers would put the whole burden on the
income tax, which would be increased by 2d. On ' the
1 Sumner was deposed this spring from the chairmanship of the
Committee of the Senate on Foreign Relations.
2 The Declaration of Paris in 1856 about maritime war.
140 KESERVE IN OPPOSITION [CHAP, ra
sweet simplicity ' of this proposal Disraeli was justifiably
severe, and in many felicitous speeches held up the Budget,
the Chancellor of the Exchequer, and the Government, to
scorn and ridicule. The income tax was essentially an
emergency or wax tax; it was monstrous, when your pro-
posed indirect taxes had proved unpopular, to fall back on
direct taxation for the whole amount of the deficiency. It
was equally monstrous to charge the Opposition, who had
the support of only one newspaper in London, with ' hound-
ing on ' the country, and to attribute to their machinations
the pecuniary difficulties in which the Government found
themselves.
The mortality among Government Bills was prodigious.
Out of more than 130, the chronicler in the Annual Register
tells us, the University Tests Bill alone, with some trifling
exceptions, passed into law in its original shape. Two
Bills of first-class importance Bruce's Licensing Bill and
Goschen's Local Government Bill proved so unpopular,
the one in the boroughs, the other in the counties, that they
were withdrawn before second reading. Confidence in the
administration of the navy was shaken by the capsizing of
our newest battleship, the Captain, and in that of the army
by the postponement of manoeuvres owing to the anticipa-
tion of rainy weather! Important business was thrust
aside in order to push forward a Ballot Bill, to which Glad-
stone was a very recent convert. ' Why,' asked Disraeli, ' is
all this old stuff brought before us ? Only because the
Prime Minister has been suddenly converted to an expiring
faith, and has passionately embraced a corpse.' It was all,
he said, part of a system, the object of which was to oppress
and alarm the public mind by constant changes. New meth-
ods of Government, new principles of property, every sub-
ject that could agitate the mind of nations, had been brought
forward and patronised until the country, anxious and
harassed, knew not what to expect. There might have been
a plausible case, he maintained, for the ballot in the past,
1871] PURCHASE AND THE PREROGATIVE HI
in the days of Old Sarum and Gatton. But now that the
franchise was recognised to be a privilege and not a trust,
it was a retrograde step to divorce political life from pub-
licity. The Bill, obstructed by Conservative free-lances
Beresf ord Hope, James Lowther, and the Bentincks in
the Commons, was defeated in the Lords.
The principal measure of the session, Cardwell's Army
Regulation Bill, was indeed passed into law in a truncated
form; but not until the Prime Minister, irritated by a
dilatory resolution in the Lords, had invoked the preroga-
tive to effect the main alteration proposed, the abolition of
the system by which officers purchased their promotion.
The system had grown up under Royal Warrant, and the
Queen was in the end advised to terminate it by Royal
Warrant, but only after the greater part of the session
had been occupied in the effort to terminate it by the
clauses of a Bill. So far as Cardwell's measure was cal-
culated to effect a reorganisation of all our military forces,
and to create a reserve by short service, Disraeli supported
it; and he did not even oppose the abolition of purchase;
though he rather doubted whether there was a really strong
feeling on the subject in the country, and whether a system
of selection would give us the officers we wanted. But he
unhesitatingly disapproved the coup d'etat by which Min-
isters attained their object. It was part of ' an avowed and
shameful conspiracy against the privileges ' of the House of
Lords. He did not dispute the prerogative of the Crownj
but the prerogative should not be used to cut the Gordian
knots that have to be encountered in dealing with popular
assemblies. ' No Minister acts in a wise manner who, find-
ing himself baffled in passing a measure, . . . comes for-
ward and tells the House that he will defy the opinion of
Parliament, and appeals to the prerogative of the Crown
to assist him in -the difficulties which he himself has created/
Public opinion supported Disraeli in this protest against the
manner in which an otherwise popular reform was carried.
142 RESEEVE IN OPPOSITION [CHAP, ra
To Montagu Corry.
HUGHENDEN, Sept. 17, '71. . . . I am sorry to find we shall
not have you for our harvest home, which is on the 26th. Lan-
cashire hangs fire. They themselves only propose the end of
January, or the first week in February. I would not, under any
circumstances, involve myself in such distant engagements, and
I am still very doubtful, whether affairs are yet ripe enough
for the move: in spite of Truro. 1 I have answered Lancashire
in your name, not extinguishing all hope.
We have never left Hughenden for a moment. Enjoying a
summer of unbroken brilliancy: Miladi very well indeed. . . .
Meyer de Rothschild continues his year of triumphs, 2 and
Bucks is proud of having the first stable in the country. . . .
Lord Russell is going abroad for a year, and shall not return
for Parliament ' unless,' he adds, ' Mr. Gladstone attempts to
abolish the House of Lords.' He has become quite deaf, but
my informant tells me most agreeable and entertaining, because,
as he can hear no one talk, he never ceases to talk himself.
But when he is exhausted, he is bored, and you must go. ...
In the course of this year, 1871, as Lord Morley tells us,
' a wave of critical feeling began to run upon the throne.' 3
The seclusion which the Queen had practised since the death
of her husband was not unnaturally resented by her people ;
and her Prime Minister repeatedly pressed her to increase
the number of her public appearances. Neither Minister
nor people quite realised the physical weakness which at this
period made it impossible for Her Majesty to add, to the
unceasing and laborious duties which she was bound to per-
form of government behind the scenes, those ceremonial dis-
plays which make much more demand upon the strength
than can be easily understood by private individuals, whose
modest position exempts them from the tiring experience.
Disraeli had the knowledge and insight which others lacked ;
and he took the opportunity of the harvest festival at
Hughenden to explain what the state of the Queen's health
was, and how conscientiously in spite of weakness she car-
ried on the most material part of her work.
i The Conservatives won a seat at Truro in a by-election this month.
8 On the turf, Glwtstone, Bk. VI., ch, 10,
1871] THE QUEEN AND HER PUBLIC WORK 143
The health of the Queen has for several years been a subject
of anxiety to those about her, but it is only within the last year
that the country generally has become acquainted with the
gravity of that condition. I believe I may say that there is
some improvement in Her Majesty's health, but I fear a long
time must elapse before it will reach that average condition
which she has for some time enjoyed, and I do not think we can
conceal from ourselves that a still longer time must elapse before
Her Majesty will be able to resume the performance of those
public and active duties which it was once her pride and pleasure
to fulfil, because they brought her into constant and immediate
contact with her people. The fact is we cannot conceal from
ourselves that Her Majesty is physically incapacitated from per-
forming those duties, but it is some consolation to Her Majesty's
subjects to know that, in the performance of those much higher
duties which Her Majesty is called upon to perform she is still
remarkable for a punctuality and a precision which have never
been surpassed, and rarely equalled, by any monarch of these
realms. ,
A very erroneous impression is prevalent respecting the duties
of the Sovereign of this country. Those duties are multifarious ;
they are weighty, and they are unceasing. I will venture to
say that no head of any department in the State performs more
laborious duties than fall to the Sovereign of this country.
There is not a despatch received from abroad nor one sent from
this country which is not submitted to the Queen. The whole
internal administration of this country greatly depends upon
the sign manual ; and of our present Sovereign it may be said that
her signature has never been placed to any public document of
which she did not know the purport and of which she did not
approve. Those Cabinet Councils of which you all hear, and
which are necessarily the scene of anxious and important de-
liberations, are reported and communicated on their termination
by the Minister to the Sovereign, and they often call from her
critical remarks, necessarily requiring considerable attention.
And I will venture to add that no person likely to administer
the affairs of this country would treat the suggestions of Her
Majesty with indifference, for at this moment there is probably
no person living in this country who has such complete control
over the political traditions of England as the Sovereign herself.
!The last generation of statesmen have all, or almost all, dis-
appeared: the Sir Robert Peels, the Lord Derbys, the Lord Pal-
merstons have gone; and there is no person who can advise Her
Majesty, or is likely to advise Her Majesty in the times in which
144 RESERVE IN OPPOSITION [CHAP, m
we live, who can have such a complete mastery of what has
occurred in this country, and of all the great and important
affairs of State, foreign and domestic, for the last thirty-four
years, as the Queen herself. He, therefore, would not be a wise
man who would not profit by Her Majesty's judgment and experi-
ence. . . .
I would venture, in conclusion, to remind those whom I
address that, although Her Majesty may be, and often is, of
great service and assistance to her servants, there never was a
more Constitutional Sovereign than our present Queen. All
who have served her would admit that, when Ministers have
been selected by her in deference to what she believed to be the
highest interests of the State in the opinion of the country,
she gives to them a complete confidence and undeviating sup-
port. But although there never was a Sovereign who would
more carefully avoid arrogating to herself any power or preroga-
tive which the Constitution does not authorise, so I would add
there never was a Sovereign more jealous, or more wisely jeal-
ous, of the prerogatives which the Constitution has allotted to
her, because she believes they are for the welfare of her people.
The effect of Disraeli's words was unfortunately marred
by a slip which he made in speaking a slip which party
malice magnified and distorted. He said that the Queen
was ' physically and morally incapacitated ' from perform-
ing her duties of ceremonial and pageant. It was not a
happy phrase and he immediately recalled it; but it gave
no real foundation for the legend that was promptly cir-
culated, to the effect that the Opposition leader had declared
the Queen to be mentally incapacitated for her work.
Even the Queen herself was disturbed, and Disraeli had
to explain.
To Sir William [Jenner]. 1
[Oct., 1871.] . . . I need not assure you that the epithet
moral involves 'mental no more than the epithet physical does.
What I meant to convey was that neither Her Majesty's frame
nor feelings could at present bear the strain and burthen of the
pageantry of State.
i The letter is printed from a draft, but it is fairly clear that Jen-
ner, Her Majesty's physician, is the ' Sir William ' to whom it was
addressed.
1871] THE WELLINGTON DESPATCHES 145
After I had used the word it was suggested to me that it
might be misinterpreted by the simple, and I requested the re-
porters to omit it. I understood they willingly agreed to do
so; but it seems the Daily Telegraph could not resist the oppor-
tunity of attempting a sensation.
The whole Press of authority, Times, Post Standard, Pall
Mall, Daily News, Spectator, Saturday Review, Echo, have de-
nounced, or utterly disregarded, the interpretation of the Tele-
graph, which the country have not accepted and have felt to be
quite inconsistent with the whole tenor of my observations.
I need not say how deeply I regret that any expression of mine
should have occasioned pain to Her Majesty, especially when my
only object in speaking was an humble endeavor to assist the
Queen. . . .
A selection from Disraeli's letters throws some light on
his interests during the autumn and winter of this year
1871, the later weeks of which were a period of acute anxi-
ety to the people of this country, owing to the dangerous
illness of the Prince of Wales from typhoid fever.
To the Duke of Wellington.
f? Oct., 1871.]' . . . I was detained in town for three days
with my time greatly to myself, and I spent it in examining
and then partly perusing these 3 volumes [of the Wellington
Despatches and Memoranda] with such keen interest, with
so much delight, I may say, that I cannot refrain from express-
ing to you however imperfectly my sense of their inestimable
value. They form out-and-out much the most interesting politi-
cal book that has been published in this century. Indeed I
know of no memoirs of a great leading character, either in civil
or military life, in any age or language, that I can place above
them. The importance of the subjects treated, their immense
variety, the striking events, the marked and historic character
of the correspondents, the towering greatness of the chief actor,
make a whole, so far as my knowledge can guide me, unrivalled.
It would be useless to select portions or passages, yet if I had
to name a composition which, alike in conception and execution,
may vie with anything in classic pages, it is the letter of the
Duke recommending the appointment of Mr. Canning to the
King. Nothing more noble and nothing more skilful was ever
penned by man, and one feels, as one reads it, that it must have
raised and re-established, at least for the moment, the lax and
146 RESERVE IN OPPOSITION [CHAP, ra
shattered moral tone of the individual to whom it "was addressed.
All about Canning subsequently, all about poor Castlereagh's
sad and I fear disgraceful end, are most dramatic. That is the
character of the volumes. They are full of life, and stirring
life. The papers on the campaign, on the state of Spain and
so on, all beyond praise.
The effect of reading these volumes on me is this: that al-
though my time for the past is now very limited, I shall certainly
read the whole of your great father's works: a volume will
always be at hand when I have time to recur to what has gone
before us.
The country owes you a debt of gratitude not easily to be
repaid for the publication of this book.
To Lord Henry Lennox.
GROSVENOR GATE, Nov. 3, '71. I thought your speech thor-
oughly capital: out-and-out, the star of the recess. I have not
read Gladstone's. 1 I tried, but I could not get on with it: not
a ray of intellect or a gleam of eloquence. They tell me that,
if I had persevered, I should have been repaid, by encountering
a quotation from the Hyde Park Litany; either a burlesque of
the Athanasian Creed or of the National Anthem; equally ap-
propriate in the mouth of our most religious and loyal ruler. . . .
To Montagu Corry.
HUGHENDEN, Dec. 4, '71. . . . Our camp is struck, and, prob-
ably in 8 and 40 hours, we shall be settled permanently at G.G.
The stable goes up to-morrow. The severe and savage weather,
that prevents all outdoor employment, quite sickened my lady,
who had trusted to planting and marking trees to amuse her.
Now she sighs for Park Lane, and twilight talk and tea. The
Canford party rather precipitated her resolve, but the prospect
even of that being put off will not now change affairs here. . . .
We have received telegrams from Sandringham every morn-
ing, and generally speaking Francis Knollys 2 has written by
post with details which telegrams cannot convey. Our telegram
this morning the most favorable we have yet received, and the
second post, which brought your letter, brought also one from
F. K
1 Gladstone's famous speech of two hours in the open air at Black-
heath, in the course of which he quoted, with approval, from a re-
publican and secularist book of poems, a parody of the National
Anthem.
2 Private Secretary to the Prince of Wales, and subsequently to King
Edward and King George; now Viscount Knollys.
1871] PKINOE OF WALES'S ILLNESS 147
They are still very nervous at Sandringham, and very cautious
in their language, but it is evident to me, that they think they
have turned the corner. . . .
To Gathorne Hardy.
GROSVENOR GATE, Dec. 23, 1871. I had seen Noel 1 before
I received your letter, and had given him the same answer as
you had done. Great wits, etc.
The proposition is absurd. We cannot modify the position
we have taken up on the Ballot, tho' many of our friends may
wish to do so. It wd. break up the party, which is in a toler-
ably robust state at present.
What we shd. do, is to get the Bill thro' our House with as
much promptitude as decency permits. The Govt. wd. like to
keep it there and distract attention from other matters. Our
policy is the reverse.
There must be a discussion on the principle, but it need not
be a prolonged one, and, in Comm[itt]ee, we shd. confine our-
selves to ~bona fide improvements of its machinery, wh. may be
the foundation, if fortune favored us, of a future compromise.
We are here rather unexpectedly, having been stopped in our
progress to country houses by the impending calamity, and being
too anxious to return to Hughenden; and now, in a few days,
we shall have to fulfil some of these engagements, so I don't
think we shall return to Bucks. . . .
i One of the Whips.
CHAPTER IV
LOTHAIR
1869-1870
In 1869 Disraeli had some real leisure, for the first time
for many years. When he led the Opposition against Rus-
sell, Aberdeen, and Palmerston, it had been in Parliaments
where parties were fairly balanced, and a change of Gov-
ernment was always a possibility. In these circumstances
the labours of leadership were nearly as onerous in opposi-
tion as in office. But, with the large and compact majority
of 1868, Gladstone's Government was for the time im-
pregnable; and Disraeli's mind therefore naturally turned
to his early love, literature. It was more than twenty
years since the publication of his last novel, Tancred, in
March, 1847 ; it was nearly twenty years since his last book,
Lord George Bentinck, in December, 1851 ; it was more
than a dozen years since he had ceased active journalism
in the Press, in February, 1856. Tancred and Lord George
Bentinck and the articles in the Press had still breathed,
though not to the extent of his earlier political writing, the
spirit of combat and propaganda; they had been the work
of one who, though he had risen high, was still fighting for
his ideas and for his place. Now he had arrived ; he had
carried a great historical measure ; he had held the highest
position under the Crown ; his ambition was largely satis-
fied; and when he began to write again, in his sixty-fifth
year, it was in a somewhat different vein. He surveyed
the great world of his day, now intimately known by him,
and he drew a picture of aristocratic and political society,
and of the ideas animating it, together with the currents
148
1869-1870] FIRSTFRUITS OF RESIGNATION 149
of thought and action which were moulding the history of
Europe. Like the great trilogy of Coningsby, Sybil, and
Tancred, Lothair was a political novel, and a political novel
dealing with the events of the day; unlike them, its un-
derlying purpose seems to have been subordinated to a
desire to mirror and satirise the passing show. Unlike
them, too, it observes a reticence, becoming in an ex-Premier,
with regard to the leading figures in the political arena and
to the immediate subjects of acute political dissension.
Different as it was from the trilogy in its outlook, it was
different also in the secrecy in which it was conceived
and written. 1 1 make it a rule never to breathe a word on
such matters to anyone,' Disraeli told a literary friend in
1872. ' My private secretary, Mr. Montagu Corry, who
possesses my entire confidence in political matters, who opens
all my letters, and enters my cabinet and deals, as he likes,
with all my papers in my absence, never knew anything
about Lothair until he read the advertisement in the
journals.' This was a new practice for Disraeli, as in re-
gard to the trilogy and to Lord George Beniinck he made
confidences about his progress from time to time to his
sister, and to his close friends such as Manners, Smythe, and
Lady Londonderry. No such sources of information are
available in regard to the composition of Lothair. But
the incident which suggested the main action of the story,
the reception of the third Marquis of Bute into the Church
of Rome, only took place on Christmas Eve, 1868. Disraeli
had then just resigned office; and we may therefore con-
fidently look upon the book as the firstfruits of his retire-
ment. The stimulus to write it may well have been pro-
vided by the offer of 10,000 for a novel, which was made
to him by a publisher immediately on his resignation, but
declined with thanks. The book was finished in the spring
of 1870. The arrangement with Longmans for its pub-
lication was made in February of that year, and it appeared
at the beginning of May.
The story of Lothair covers almost exactly the period of
150 LOTHAIR [CHAP, iv
Disraeli's third tenure of office ; it is all comprised between
the August of 1866 and the August of 1868; and yet,
though a great number of his English characters are more
or less politicians, there is no reference to the Reform strug-
gles or to the passage of the Reform Bill, or (save as a mat-
ter involving urgent whips) to the debates on the Irish
Church; nor is there any personal allusion to the Prime
Ministers of the time, first Derby and then Disraeli him-
self. The political and social movements, the intellectual
and spiritual problems, which form the background of
Disraeli's story, had in truth little relation with actual pro-
ceedings in Westminster Palace. Secret societies and their
international energies, the Church of Rome and her claims
and methods, the eternal conflict between science and faith :
these are the forces shown to be at work beneath the surface
of that splendid pageant of English aristocracy in which
most of Disraeli's characters move, and which he never
described with more brilliance and gusto than in Lothair.
So brilliant is that description that Froude even asks us to
see the true value of the book in its perfect representation
of patrician society in England flourishing in its fullest
bloom, but, like a flower, opening fully only to fade.
The plot is simple. The hero, one of those fortunate
beings whom he loved to paint, an orphan peer apparently
a marquis of fabulous wealth, brought up and educated
quietly in Presbyterian fashion in Scotland, is thrown, as
he reaches adolescence, fresh upon the world, first of Oxford,
and then of London and the great country houses. The
priggishness born of his early education leads him at the
outset to say, ( My opinions are already formed on every
subject; that is to say, every subject of importance; and,
what is more, they will never change.' But he is in reality
very impressionable, and anxious to discover, like Tancred,
what he ought to do and what he ought to believe. All the
influences and all the teachers of the day are naturally con-
centrated upon one whose adhesion might be expected so ma-
terially to benefit any cause which he espoused. The main
1870] THREE FORCES THREE WOMEN 151
struggle is between three forces, represented by three women,
with all of whom Lothair falls successively in love. These
forces are, first, the Church of Rome ; secondly, the interna-
tional revolution and what may be called free religion ; and
thirdly, the Church of England and the round of duties
and occupations natural to Lothair's birth and station.
Clare Arundel, the representative of the first force, is an
attractive and ardent saint; Theodora Campian, the repre-
sentative of the second force, has great personal charm, lofty
character, and high purpose. But Theodora dies and Clare
enters a convent; and the victory is won in the end by the
Lady Corisande, the representative of the third force, whose
principles are indeed immaculate but who is a somewhat
uninteresting heroine. The action takes place mainly in
London and in three English country houses ; but the autumn
and winter of 1867 are occupied with Lothair's experiences
in Rome and the neighbourhood; and the spring of 1868
finds him in those scenes of the Mediterranean and the
Holy Land which Disraeli visited as a young man and
afterwards lovingly reproduced in so many of his
novels.
Nothing in the book is more carefully drawn or more
delicately finished than the chapters which deal with the
Roman Catholic group of priests and laymen who conspire
the word is hardly too strong to entrap Lothair into
the Roman Church. The old Catholic English family
Lord St. Jerome, devout and easy in his temper, but an
English gentleman to the backbone, who gave at his ball
suppers the same champagne that he gave at his dinners;
Lady St. Jerome, an enthusiastic convert, ' a woman to in-
spire crusaders,' who received Lothair at a party l with
extreme unction ' ; and their beautiful niece, Clare Arundel,
who could only be weaned from the convent in which her
hopes had centred by the vision of attracting Lothair through
marriage into the true fold : and then the priests Father
Coleman, whose devotion to gardening masked his skill as a
controversialist; Monsignore Catesby, the aristocratic and
152 LOTHAIR ' [CHAP, iv
fashionable missionary of the Church to convert the upper
classes; Monsignore Berwick, the priest as statesman, the
favourite pupil of Antonelli; and Cardinal Grandison, a
wonderful study of asceticism, devotion, high breeding, tact,
delicacy, and unscrupulousness, whose appearance and man-
ner were copied from Manning, though some of his mental
and moral characteristics may be referred to Wiseman.
' It seemed that the soul never had so frail and fragile a
tenement ' as his attenuated form ; * I never eat and I never
drink,' he said in refusing an invitation to dinner. One
marked feature in his character was that he was ' an entire
believer in female influence, and a considerable believer in
his influence over females.'
Disraeli was at once attracted and repelled by Rome.
Her historical tradition and her sensuous and ceremonial
worship appealed strongly to one side of his nature; but
he was even more keenly alive to the bondage which she
imposed upon the spirit of man, and he had been of late
particularly impressed by the stealthy and indirect meth-
ods which her propaganda in England had assumed. He
had had a personal experience of a disagreeable but reveal-
ing character in the ' stab in the back ' which Manning and
the Roman party had given him over the question of Uni-
versity education. Both the attraction and the repulsion
are brought out in Lothair. The description of the service
of Tenebrce in Holy Week at Vauxe, the St. Jeromes'
country house, is such as to satisfy the emotions of a devout
Roman Catholic; the St. Jerome family life and Clare's
aspirations are sympathetically treated; and there is no
lack of appreciation of the enormous support the Roman
Church affords to that religious element in man which he
held it to be essential to foster.
On the other hand, a large portion of the book is occupied
by a merciless dissection of the various arts employed by
Cardinals and Monsignori to entangle Lothair so deeply in
the meshes of Roman influence that conversion might ap-
pear to him to be the only honourable outcome. Begun in
1870] THE ROMAN CHURCH AND LOTHAIR 153
London and at Vauxe, continued during the coming-of-age
festivities at Muriel Towers, and brought to a climax at
Rome after the battle of Mentana, these machinations were
so cleverly contrived that their object was within an ace of
accomplishment. Moved by the overpowering personality
of Theodora, Lothair had temporarily thrown off their
trammels, and had even ranged himself by Garibaldi's side
in the advance on Rome in the autumn of 1867. The
*
return of the French garrison had wrecked the hopes of the
enterprise; Theodora was killed; and Lothair himself fell,
badly wounded, at Mentana. A kindly Italian peasant
woman of handsome mien brought news of his plight to
Clare Arundel, who was in Rome for the winter and occu-
pied in caring for the faithful wounded. She found him
all unconscious in a hospital and nursed him back to life.
During his illness a pious legend was evolved ; the peasant
woman was discovered to be the Virgin Mary, recognised
as such by the halo round her head; and it was claimed
that Lothair had been fighting, when he fell, on behalf of
the Pope instead of against him. He was induced in his
weak state to support Clare in an ecclesiastical function
which he believed to be merely one of thanksgiving for
recovery, but which the official Papal journal treated as a
solemn recognition on his part of the special favour shown
by the Mother of God to her chivalrous defender. The
mendacities of the official account drove Lothair, still suf-
fering, and almost a prisoner of the Church in a Roman
palace, to a mixture of indignation and despair; but he
thought he might rely on Cardinal Grandison as an English
gentleman and a man of honour to put the matter right. He
was mistaken; and the description of the conversation be-
tween the two is inimitable.
To Lothair's protestations against l a tissue of falsehood
and imposture/ the Cardinal opposed confidence in an
f official journal ' drawn up by ' truly pious men.' It was,
he said, the ' authentic ' story of what happened at Mentana ;
Lothair's own statement, he airily suggested, had neither
154 LOTHAIE [CHAP, iv
confirmation nor probability ; ' you have been very ill, my
dear young friend, and labouring under much excitement.'
Such hallucinations were not uncommon, and would wear off
with returning health.
King George IV. believed that he was at the Battle of Water-
loo, and indeed commanded there; and his friends were at one
time a little alarmed; but Knighton, who was a sensible man,
said, ' His Majesty has only to leave off curagao, and rest assured
he will gain no more victories.'
Lothair must remember, the Cardinal continued, that he
was in the centre of Christendom, the abode of truth.
' Divine authority has perused this paper and approved
it. ... It records the most memorable event of the cen-
tury.' The appearance of the Virgin in Rome had given
the deathblow to atheism and the secret societies; Lothair
must return to England and reconquer it for Rome. The
eye of Christendom was upon him. He might be bewildered
like St. Thomas, but like him he would become an apostle.
The Holy Father would personally receive him next day
into the bosom of the Church.
In spite of all the Cardinal's arts, a vision of Theodora
at night in the Coliseum Disraeli was partial to visions
as a melodramatic resource saved Lothair from the
priests ; and the Cardinal, when he met him afterwards in
London, affected complete unconsciousness as to the in-
trigue in Rome, and even suggested to him that he should
attend the approaching Ecumenical Council as an Ang-
lican !
The revolutionary characters in Lothair are almost as
closely studied, in themselves, and in their setting, as the
Roman. With the Revolution as with Rome Disraeli, who
claimed once that he had a revolutionary mind, had a cer-
tain sympathy, which, though it did not blind him to the
impossible nature of the creed, enabled him to understand
it. Theodora herself is certainly his most elaborately con-
ceived heroine. Seen by Lothair first at an evening party,
1870] THEODOKA 155
her face is thus described : ' It was the face of a matron,
apparently of not many summers, for her shapely figure was
still slender, though her mien was stately. . . . The coun-
tenance . . . pale, but perfectly Attic in outline, with the
short upper lip and the round chin, and a profusion of
dark chestnut hair bound by a Grecian fillet, and on her
brow a star.' She had sat for the head of ' La Republique
Franchise ' in 1850, as a girl of seventeen, and was there-
fore well over thirty when she met Lothair in the autumn
of 1866. She was the wife of an American Colonel, with
a villa at Putney. An Italian by birth, she was an ardent
sympathiser with movements for freedom throughout the
world ; but for the unity of her native country and the de-
struction of Papal government in Rome she was prepared
to give her life. Dr. Garnett has happily observed that
' she impersonates all the traits which Shelley especially
valued in woman,' and that she was also her creator's ideal.
f There is not a single touch of satire in the portrait ; it
plainly represents the artist's highest conception of woman.'
A hater of priests and priestcraft, Theodora is yet strongly
religious in her idealistic way. Orthodoxy, she holds, has
very little to do with religion ; ' I worship,' she tells Lothair,
' in a church where I believe God dwells, and dwells for
my guidance and my good : my conscience.' The romantic
adoration, free from all sensual taint, with which she in-
spires Lothair is drawn with great delicacy. Indeed ' the
exquisite and even sublime friendship, which had so strongly
and beautifully arisen, like a palace in a dream, and ab-
sorbed his being,' was a sentiment of which the author was
himself capable, at all stages of his life.
As Theodora represents the ideal side of the revolu-
tionary movement, so Captain Bruges embodies the prac-
tical side. His career corresponds to, and may have been
copied from, that of General Cluseret, the military com-
mander who was so prominent in the Paris Commune.
Bruges's common sense and resolution shine amid the mouth-
ings of the revolutionary council in Soho and the turmoil of
156 LOTHAIE [CHAP, iv
the Fenian meeting in Hoxton; and when he takes com-
mand of the camp in the Apennines he appears as a true
leader of men, bold, wary, and unscrupulous. His mis-
sion is to be the sword-arm of the secret societies, Mary
Anne of France and Madre Natura of Italy.
From a very early date, Disraeli had been deeply im-
pres_sed by the widespread activities of the secret societies
in Europe. He drew special attention to the danger in
Lord George BentincTc and in his speeches in the House
of Commons on the Italian question. During his recent
term of office, Irish and Irish-American Fenianism had to
be met and defeated ; and the information that then poured
in upon the Government confirmed and extended his previous
knowledge of revolutionary conspiracies. Of all this he
made full use in Lothair. Reviewers accused him of gross
exaggeration, of conjuring up imaginary perils ; Mary Anne,
though referred to in the protocols of Paris in 1856, was
treated as a bogey. But within a year the outbreak of
the Paris Commune, with its revelation of the malign work-
ings of the International Society, showed how thoroughly
well justified were the apprehensions of Disraeli's Mon-
signori and diplomatists, and the boasts of his revolution-
aries. Catesby says of the secret societies : l They have
declared war against the Church, the State, and the domestic
principle. All the great truths and laws on which the fam-
ily reposes are denounced. Their religion is the religion
of science.' The French Ambassador declares that the Mary
Anne associations in France were all alive and astir.
' Mary Anne,' he explains, ' was the real name for the Re-
public years ago, and there always was a sort of myth that
these societies had been founded by a woman. . . . The
word has gone out to all these societies that Mary Anne has
returned, and will issue her orders, which must be obeyed.'
And Bruges, the revolutionary general, confirms the rep-
resentatives of authority. ' There are more secret socie-
ties at this moment than at any period since '85, though you
hear nothing of them j and they believe in Mary Anne, and
1870] LORD BUTE AND LOTHATR 157
in nothing else.' He anticipates, moreover, and defends
the policy of arson which the Commune employed, to the
world's horror, in Paris in the spring of 1871. He is
speaking of Rome. ' Those priests ! I fluttered them once.
Why did I spare any? Why did I not burn down St.
Peter's ? I proposed it.' There was something to be said
for Monsignore Berwick's ejaculation: t It is the Church
against the secret societies. They are the only two strong
things in Europe, and will survive kings, emperors, or par-
liaments.'
When Disraeli dealt with his third set of influences,
those springing from English society and the Anglican
Communion, he painted with some boldness from people he
knew and personal and family circumstances which had
come directly under his observation. The plot was sug-
gested by Lord Bute's recent conversion to Rome ; and Bute's
history was faithfully followed in Lothair's vast fortune and
long minority, in his elaborate coming-of-age festivities, in
his relations with Monsignore Capel (called in the book
Catesby, but ' Capel ' appeared by a slip in one passage in
the original issue), and even in the ducal family where
he went to seek a bride. But Lothair was not received into
the Church of Rome, and Bute in the end married a lady who
was not a daughter of ' the duke ' of the novel. Nor did
Lothair resemble Bute in appearance, character, or tastes.
Indeed Lothair is given so little character, save that of
general candour, openness, and desire to do right, coupled
with a trifle of priggishness, that Sir Leslie Stephen is al-
most justified in his remark that c Lothair reduces himself
so completely to a mere " passive bucket " to be pumped into
by every variety of teacher, that he is unpleasantly like a
fool.'
If the hero's circumstances almost directly reproduced
Bute's, there is a still closer resemblance between ' the
duke ' of Lothair and his family, and a duke and his fam-
ily who were numbered among Disraeli's friends. l Lord
Abercorn has thirteen children/ wrote Disraeli in 1863 to
158 LOTHAIK [CHAP, iv
Mrs. Willyams after meeting the Abercorns at Hatfield;
' and looks as young as his son who is an M.P. . . . His
daughters are so singularly pretty that they always marry
during their first season, and always make the most splen-
did matches.' So of the ducal family described in the
early pages of Lothair we are told that the sons and daughters
reproduced the appearance and character of their parents,
and the daughters ' all met the same fate. After seven-
teen years of a delicious home, they were presented and im-
mediately married.' The Duke of Abercorn, who obtained
his dukedom on Disraeli's recommendation, was one of the
handsomest men of the day ; and society enjoyed the gentle
raillery which wrote of ' the duke ' : ' Every day when he
looked into the glass, and gave the last touch to his consum-
mate toilette, 1 he offered his grateful thanks to Providence
that his family was not unworthy of him.' That the fam-
ily so graciously characterised by Disraeli was not unworthy
has since been abundantly shown by the distinguished place
its members have occupied in the political and social world.
But Disraeli has dowered the dukedom of Abercorn with
all, and more than all, the then possessions of that of
Sutherland. Brent-ham must be Trentham, and Crecy
House in London Stafford House.
From Montagu Corry.
ADMIRALTY, Sept. 22, 1868. . . . He (Lord Bute) is going
to Baronscourt next month, it is evident rather as a claimant
of his bride than as a suitor. Evidently the whole matter is
already arranged. But still, I fear, that his joining himself
to the ' scarlet woman' and soon too is equally certain.
Fergusson says that no ingenuity can counteract the influence
which certain priests and prelates have over him, chief among
them being Monsignore Oapel. The speedy result is inevitable,
and the consummation is only delayed till he has won his
bride. . . .
i Disraeli seldom committed the artistic mistake of reproducing the
character and habits of his original in every detail. The Duke of
Abercorn was careless about the fit of his clothes.
1870] THE MINOR CHARACTERS 159
The Anglican Bishop is clearly taken from Wilberforce;
and considering the licence which the Bishop since the
autumn of 1868 had permitted himself to use in speaking
and writing of Disraeli, is a not unflattering portrait. The
Bishop in Lothair is described as l polished and plausible,
well-lettered, yet quite a man of the world. He was fond
of society, and justified his taste in this respect by the flat-
tering belief that by his presence he was extending the
power of the Church ; certainly favouring an ambition which
could not be described as being moderate.' We are told of
his ' gracious mien/ his ' honeyed expressions ' ; that he
was ' a man of contrivance and resolution ' ; while in his
lighter moments he was capable of ' seraphic raillery,'
' angelic jokes,' and ' lambent flashes.' It was when he had
made some particularly deadly lunge or parry, in the secret
duel for Lothair's soul which was carried on between him
and the Cardinal at Muriel Towers, that these playful char-
acteristics were displayed.
The minor characters are as distinctive and amusing as
they are wont to be in Disraeli's novels. There is St.
Aldegonde, heir to the wealthiest dukedom in the kingdom,
but ' a republican of the reddest dye. He was opposed to
all privilege, and indeed to all orders of men, except dukes,
who were a necessity. He was also strongly in favour of
the equal division of all property, except land. Liberty
depended upon land, and the greater the landowners the
greater the liberty of a country.' He comes down to break-
fast in a country house on Sunday morning in a ( shooting
jacket of brown velvet and a pink shirt and no cravat,' and,
in the presence of the Bishop of the Diocese, exclaims
* in a loud voice, and with the groan of a rebellious Titan,
"How I hate Sunday!"'
Then there is Mr. Phoebus, the painter, who belongs rather
to the revolutionary group than to the panorama of society ;
a descendant of Gascon nobles, and brilliant, brave, and
boastful as they ; the prophet of Aryan art against Semitism.
160 LOTHAIK [CHAP, iv
' When Leo the Tenth was Pope,' he says, l popery was
pagan ; popery is now Christian, and art is extinct.' What
he admires about the aristocracy is that they ' live in the air,
that they excel in athletic sports ; that they can only speak
one language ; and that they never read.' It was the highest
education since the Greek. Nothing could induce him to
use paper money; but he carried about with him on his
travels ' several velvet bags, one full of pearls, another of
rubies, another of Venetian sequins, Napoleons, and golden
piastres. " I like to look at them," said Mr. Phoebus, " and
find life more intense when they are about my person. But
bank notes, so cold and thin, they give me an ague." He
rented an island in the ^Egean where, in the company of his
beautiful Greek wife and her equally attractive sister, he
' pursued a life partly feudal, partly Oriental, partly Vene-
tian, and partly idiosyncratic ' ; but, in spite of his Aryan-
ism, he consented to go to the Holy Land on a commission
from the Russian Government to paint Semitic subjects,
moved partly by the reflection, ' They say no one can draw
a camel. If I went to Jerusalem a camel would at last be
drawn.' It was Phoebus who refurbished and launched
the ancient gibe at the critics, as ' the men who have failed
in literature and art.'
Mr. Pinto is another capital sketch ; the middle-aged,
oily Portuguese who was one of the marvels of society. ' In-
stead of being a parasite, everybody flattered him; and
instead of being a hanger-on of society, society hung on
Pinto.' ' He was not an intellectual Croesus, but his pockets
were full of sixpences.' Here is one of his ' sixpences ' in
conversation with St. Aldegonde. ' English is an expres-
sive language, but not difficult to master. Its range is
limited. It consists, as far as I can observe, of four words :
" nice," " jolly," " charming," and " bore." '
Then we have Lord and Lady Clanmorne, ' so good-
looking and agreeable that they were as good at a dinner-
party as a couple of first-rate entrees ' : and Apollonia, the
wife of Putney Giles, the prosperous solicitor, whose prin-
1870] LADY BEACONSFIELD'S PEARLS 161
cipal mission it was to destroy the Papacy and her lesser
impulses to become acquainted with the aristocracy and
to be surrounded by celebrities. Sir William Stirling Max-
well, in congratulating Disraeli, happly singled out ' your
remarkable power of painting a character by a single stroke.'
Nor must we forget Mr. Ruby, the Bond Street jeweller,
whose conversation with his eminent clients is delightful.
He holds forth to Lothair on pearls.
Pearls are troublesome property, my Lord. They require
great care; they want both air and exercise; they must be worn
frequently; you cannot lock them up. The Duchess of Havant
has the finest pearls in the country, and I told her Grace, ' Wear
them whenever you can, wear them at breakfast;' and her Grace
follows my advice, she does wear them at breakfast. I go down
to Havant Castle every year to see her Grace's pearls, and I
wipe every one of them myself, and let them lie on a sunny bank
in the garden, in a westerly wind, for hours and days together.
Their complexion would have been ruined had it not been for
this treatment.
Visitors to Hughenden in the latter years of Lady Bea-
consfield's life remember how faithfully Disraeli followed
Mr. Ruby's advice ; how he was wont himself, on sunny days,
to bring out his wife's pearls and lay them carefully on the
grass by the terrace, so that they might not fail to get the
' air ' which was so important for their complexion.
Scattered here and there throughout the book are many
shrewd political appreciations. Take this, of Scotland :
' The Establishment and the Free Kirk are mutually sigh-
ing for some compromise which may bring them together
again ; and if the proprietors would give up their petty
patronage, some flatter themselves that it might be ar-
ranged.' Disraeli himself was to abolish the * petty pa-
tronage,' and now for several years Presbyterian reunion
has been drawing visibly nearer. About Ireland there is
naturally more. A revolutionary leader says of the Irish:
' Their treason is a fairy tale, and their sedition a child
talking in its sleep ' ; while a Roman Mbnsignore tells us
that < the difficulty of Ireland is that the priests and the
162 LOTHAIR [CHAP, iv
people will consider everything in a purely Irish point of
view. To gain some local object, they will encourage the
principles of the most lawless Liberalism, which naturally
land them in Fenianism and atheism.' The aspirations of
Germany after a fleet are again noted. In the revolution-
ary meeting in London the German delegate says : ' The
peoples will never succeed till they have a fleet. ... To
have a fleet we rose against Denmark in my country. . . .
The future mistress of the seas is the land of the Viking '
an odd paraphrase for Germany. Of Austria Monsignore
Berwick says : ' Poor Austria ! Two things made her a
nation : she was German and she was Catholic, and now
she is neither.' A French diplomatist suggests to the Mon-
signore the very settlement of the Roman question which
was actually effected in a few months : ' I wish I could in-
duce you to consider more favourably that suggestion, that
His Holiness should content himself with the ancient city,
and, in possession of St. Peter's and the Vatican, leave the
rest of Rome to the vulgar cares and the mundane anxieties
of the transient generation.' And the Disraeli of Sybil
and of the Artisans' Dwellings Acts speaks through the
mouth of Lothair when he says : ' It seems to me that
pauperism is not an affairs so much of wages as of dwellings.
If the working classes were properly lodged, at their present
rate of wages, they would be richer. They would be health-
ier and happier at the same cost.'
There are of course the oddities of grammar, absurdities
of expression, and exaggerations of fact and of phrase,
which no novel of Disraeli's is without; and in Lokhair
some readers are put off by the occurrence of a large pro-
portion of these in the early pages. But we have also, what
is more to the purpose, an abundance of those apt phrases,
half aphorism half paradox, into which Disraeli distilled
his worldly and other-worldly wisdom. The hansom is
' the gondola of London ' ; Pantheism is l atheism in dom-
ino ' ; a member of the Church of England appears to a
Roman convert to be t a Parliamentary Christian ' ; an
1870] A SPIRITUAL CONFLICT 163
agreeable person is ' a person who agrees with ' you ; at the
end of the season ' the baffled hopes must go to Cowes, and
the broken hearts to Baden ' ; ' the originality of a subject
is in its treatment ' ; ' the world, where the future is con-
cerned, is generally wrong ' ; ' patriotism was a boast and
now it is a controversy ' ; ' to revive faith is more difficult
than to create it.'
The joy which Disraeli evinces in the material world, in
natural and artistic beauty, in the dignity and even in the
gauds and tinsel of wealthy and aristocratic life, should
never blind the reader to the fact that the story of the book
is a spiritual conflict, and that the author puts here, as in
Tancred and all his more serious writing, the soul above
the body. It is Lothair' s soul for which the various forces
have been contending. The somewhat shadowy Syrian
Christian, Paraclete, whom Lothair meets towards the end
of his wanderings, seems to speak the author's real mind.
What is his teaching ? ' Science may prove the insignifi-
cance of this globe in the scale of creation, but it cannot
prove the insignificance of man. . . . There is no relation
between the faculties of man and the scale in creation of
the planet which he inherits.' ' There must be design, or
all we see would be without sense, and I do not believe in the
unmeaning.' ' A monad of pure intelligence, is that more
philosophical than the truth . . . that God made man in
his own image ? ' Science can no more satisfy the soul than
superstition or revolt. But Disraeli's practical advice is
that which the revolutionary General gave as his parting
word to Lothair. ' Whatever you do, give up dreams. . . .
Action may not always be happiness, but there is no happi-
ness without action.' These are the things in the knowledge
of which Disraeli declares the salvation of our youth to con-
sist. * Nosse omnia hsec salus est adolescentulis ' is the
motto from Terence prefixed to the book.
Beyond this motto, Disraeli, who revealed in the general
preface to the novels in the autumn the origin and inten-
tion of his earlier romances, declined to give any hint about
164 LOTHAIE [CHAP, iv
the purport of Lothair. But Longmans, his publishers, cir-
culated, presumably with his consent, as an advertisement
of the new edition, a letter which Professor John Stuart
Blackie had addressed to the Scotsman on the significance
of the work. It was undoubtedly, Blackie maintained,
' what the Germans call a tendenz-roman/ showing how cer-
tain intellectual agencies, prominent in the world at the
time, act upon a hero of the Wilhelm Meister type, and how
the illusions of Romanism may be dispelled in favour of
rational liberty and rational piety. Count Vitzthum, Dis-
raeli's old friend in the diplomatic world, also noted the
resemblance to Wilhelm Meister, both novels treating of
1 the development of a human being by the working of life
and experience.' But he thought Goethe's hero looked
' pale, narrow-minded, little, a poor bourgeois,' by the side
of Lothair, ' a real prince, a citizen of the world.' Vitz-
thum also selected for praise the facility of giving the
formulas of all the philosophical schools of the age so that
a child might understand them. But perhaps the apprecia-
tion of James Clay, a friend from the days of the Medi-
terranean wanderings, pleased Disraeli most : ' You are a
wonderful fellow to have retained the freshness and buoy-
ancy of twenty-five.'
Seldom has a book been anticipated with such interest
or produced such a sensation on its first appearance. There
was no occasion for Longman to employ the puffing tactics
by which Colburn in Disraeli's youthful days had heralded
the publication of Vivian Grey. A novel by an ex-Premier,
and an ex-Premier of so strange and fascinating a type, was
enough in itself to set the town, if not the world, agog.
* There is immense and most malevolent curiosity about
Disraeli's novel,' wrote Houghton. ' His wisest friends
think that it must be a mistake, and his enemies hope that
it will be his ruin.' The book was actually published, in
three volumes, on Monday, May 2. But the advance de-
mand had already kept Longman's printers busy. On April
22, he told Disraeli that the subscription list would be about
1870] SUCCESS OF THE BOOK 165
2,000, and that a third thousand was ready; on the 27th
that 3,000 were bespoken and a fourth in hand ; and on the
29th, three days before publication, that they had gone to
press with a fifth. Four days after publication he humor-
ously described to Disraeli the run upon his ( bankers in
Paternoster Row.'
From Thomas Longman.
FARNBOROUGH HILL, HANTS, May 6, 1870. There has been a
run upon your bankers in Paternoster Row, and our last thou-
sand is nearly gone! We shall have another thousand in hand
on Wednesday next. This will be the sixth thousand, and I do
not feel quite certain we shall not be broken before Wednesday!
I am not sure that it would not do good, now we have nearly
5,000 in circulation. On Monday morning Mr. Mudie's house
was, I am told, in a state of siege. At an early hour his supply
was sent in two carts. But real subscribers, and representative
footmen, in large masses were there before them. Mr. Mudie
has had 700 more copies. . . .
All the world read the book; every journal reviewed it.
It was the principal topic of polite conversation during the
London season: a pretty woman was even heard to bet a
copy of Lothair on a race at Ascot. Horses, songs, and
ships were named after the hero and heroine; a scrap in
Disraeli's handwriting gives the following list :
Lothair. Mr. Stevens' colt, Mr. Molloy's song by Mme.
Sherrington, Greenwich ship, Lotbair Galloppe, Lothair Per-
fume, Lothair Street.
Corisande. Baron Rothschild's filly, 1 Mr. Martin's song by
Mme. Montserrat, Durham ship, Corisande Valtz.
Edition followed edition. The circulation was greatly
helped by the publication of an abusive letter from one
who conceived himself to be the original of the Oxford
professor described in the book as ' of advanced opinions
on all subjects, religious, social, and political ' ; ' clever,
i Lady Beaconsfield preserved among the Beaconsfield papers the tele-
gram by which Baron Meyer de Rothschild announced to her and
Disraeli the victory of the famous filly Corisande in the Cesarewitch.
166 LOTHAIK [CHAP, iv
extremely well-informed,' but with ' a restless vanity and
overflowing conceit ' ; ' gifted with a great command of
words, which took the form of endless exposition, varied
by sarcasm and passages of ornate jargon ' ; and unkind-
est cut of all ' like sedentary men of extreme opinions,
... a social parasite.'
From Goldwin Smith.
CORNELL UNIVERSITY, ITHACA, STATE OF NEW YORK, May 25,
1870. In your Lothair you introduce an Oxford professor, who
is about to emigrate to America, and you describe him as a social
parasite. You well know that if you had ventured openly to
accuse me of any social baseness, you would have had to answer
for your words; but when sheltering yourself under the literary
form of a work of fiction, you seek to traduce with impunity
the social character of a political opponent, your expressions
can touch no man's honour; they are the stingless insults of a
coward.
This was, indeed, as a journalist said, l 'Ercles' vein ' ;
and it is no wonder that Longman could write on June 9 :
' The Oxford Professor's letter is doing its work well. So
much so that we shall print again as soon as I have your
corrections.' Disraeli never answered Goldwin Smith ; but
in a letter to an American literary friend he threw an in-
teresting sidelight on the outburst.
To Robert Carter.
Confidential. HUGHENDEN MANOR, Aug. 13, 1870. . . . I
know nothing personally of Mr. Goldwin Smith. I never saw
him. More than twenty years ago, the Peelite party who had
purchased the Morning Chronicle, mainly to decry me and my
friends, engaged a new hand who distinguished himself by a
series of invectives against myself, wh. far passed the bounds
of legitimate political hostility. I cared nothing, and have never
cared anything, about these personal attacks, to which I have
been subject all my life and wh. have never, in the least, arrested
my career; but the writer, I found out many years afterwards,
was Mr. Goldwin Smith, who was well paid for his pains. I
don't, and never did, grudge him that: but this is hardly the
person to inveigh against personalities and anonymous writing.
1870] UNFAVOURABLE REVIEWS 167
I have sometimes brushed him aside, as I would a mosquito,
but am always too much occupied to bear him, or any other
insect, any ill-will. . . .
The outbreak of the Franco-German War caused the de-
mand, for the moment, somewhat to slacken; but with the
appearance in November of a collected edition of Disraeli's
novels, at 6s. a volume, having Lothair as the first volume,
the ' Lothair-mania,' as Longman wrote, broke out again
' with all its virulence. Twice we have printed 5,000
copies, and now we have another 5,000=15,000, at press.'
The book was translated into every European language, and
the demand in Germany so far exceeded expectation
that Baron Tauchnitz, the publisher, as Longman noted,
' doubled, more suo, his tribute-money.' In America the
sale was even greater than in England. Messrs. Appleton
began by printing 25,000 copies, which were sold out in
three days ; and in July the demand was still a thousand
copies a day. By October 80,000 copies had been sold
there. Disraeli proudly claimed, in the General Preface
which he wrote for the collected edition, that the book had
been ' more extensively read both by the people of the
United Kingdom and the United States than any work that
has appeared for the last half-century.'
But if the public devoured the novel, the reviewers for
the more critical journals and magazines were, as a rule,
unfavourable. The Times was, indeed, highly apprecia-
tive ; and the Pall Mall Gazette called it an ' admirable
novel ' which ' must have cost the author, we cannot help
fancying, no effort whatever; it was as easy and delight-
ful for him to write as for us to read.' But the Saturday
Review was captious, and the Edinburgh patronising; the
Athenaeum maintained that the book would have passed
unnoticed if written by anyone else ; while both Blackwood,
a representative of Scottish Conservatism, and the Quar-
terly, true as ever to its anti-Disraeli attitude, condemned
it with the utmost severity. The latter dubbed it a ' fail-
ure,' an ' outrage,' ' a sin against good taste and justice,'
168 LOTHAIR [CHAP, iv
1 a vast mass of verbiage which can seldom be called Eng-
lish ' ; and even had the hardihood to call a book which
contains some of Disraeli's liveliest and most satirical writ-
ing, ' as dull as ditchwater and as flat as a flounder.' Abra-
ham Hayward, always a malignant critic of Disraeli, wrote
the Quarterly article ; Houghton, a ' goodnatured ' friend,
the Edinburgh; the Blackwood attack * was from the in-
cisive pen of the soldier-critic, Hamley. In the General
Preface Disraeli hit some shrewd blows back; and one can
recognise at least Houghton and Hayward in the following
passage :
One could hardly expect at home the judicial impartiality
of a foreign land. Personal influences inevitably mingle in
some degree with such productions. There are critics who,
abstractedly, do not approve of successful books, partic\ilarly
if they have failed in the same style; social acquaintances also
of lettered taste, and especially contemporaries whose public life
has not exactly realised the vain dreams of their fussy existence,
would seize the accustomed opportunity of welcoming with
affected discrimination about nothing, and elaborate controversy
about trifles, the production of a friend; and there is always,
both in politics and literature, the race of the Dennises, the
Oldmixons, and Curls, who flatter themselves that, by syste-
matically libelling some eminent personage of their times, they
ihave a chance of descending to posterity. 2
At least one later critic of undoubted competence has
endorsed the condemnation of the contemporary reviewers.
Sir Leslie Stephen, who showed much appreciation of the
earlier novels, has left on record the opinion that the easiest
assumption to make about Lothair is ' that it is a practical
joke on a large scale, or a prolonged burlesque upon Mr.
Disraeli's own youthful performances.' Nevertheless, the
judgment of the world is decisive against Stephen, and
holds, that Lothair is among the best, if not the absolute best,
1 Manners wrote on Nov. 10: 'Did I ever tell you that in conse-
quence of that abominable article in the summer I renounced Black-
wood f Though you would not care for his ribaldry, perhaps you may
like to know that your friends did.'
2 General Preface to the novels, Oct., 1870.
1870] PECUNIARY RETURN 169
of Disraeli's novels. Mr. George Eussell expressed a grow-
ing opinion when he declared it the author's masterpiece;
' a profound study of spiritual and political forces at a
supremely important moment in the history of modern
Europe.' Lord Russell saw deep significance beneath the
gaudy trappings, and held it to be the work of a political
seer. Froude regarded it as ' immeasurably superior ' to
anything of the kind which Disraeli had previously pro-
duced; adding, ' Lothair opens a window into Disraeli's
mind, revealing the inner workings of it more completely
than anything else which he wrote or said.' This last ap-
preciation is, perhaps, excessive; Tancred and Lord George
Bentinck are more self-revealing, if only because of their
insistence on the Jewish standpoint, which is not obtruded
in Lothair; but Lothair takes rank beside Coningsby, and
these two are the novels on which Disraeli's literary repu-
tation rests with the general reader of to-day.
The pecuniary return of Lothair was considerable. For
the original edition of 2,000 copies Longmans paid Disraeli
1,000 ; and together with royalties on subsequent copies
and on the one-volume edition, and with the foreign rights
of the book, he had received in all by the end of 1876 over
6,000. The large sales of Lothair increased the demand
for its predecessors, from Vivian Grey to Tancred. On
these in the new edition Disraeli had already received over
1,000 in royalties, when, in 1877, he came to a new ar-
rangement with his publishers by which they paid him a
further sum of 2,100 for the copyright of the whole ten
volumes of novels. He was so much encouraged by his
success that he soon made a start upon a new novel, En-
dymion; which, however, owing to the renewal of his po-
litical activity and his subsequent return to office, was not
completed and published till ten years later.
The publication of Lothair, like that of Tancred, was
politically a hindrance rather than a help to Disraeli. The
serious politician, like Gladstone in the Punch cartoon,
pronounced it flippant. How could Parliamentarians be
170 LOTHAIE [CHAP, iv
expected to trust an ex-Premier who, when half-way between
sixty and seventy, instead of occupying his leisure, in ac-
cordance with the British convention, in classical, his-
torical, or constitutional studies, produced a gaudy romance
of the peerage, so written as to make it almost impossible
to say how much was ironical or satirical, and how much
soberly intended? It may be taken for granted that Dis-
raeli's old colleagues did not know what to think of the
book, as among the congratulatory letters preserved in the
Beaconsfield correspondence their handwriting is markedly
absent. This political distrust was increased by the resusci-
tation, in the General Preface in the autumn, of all the pe-
culiar doctrines about English history and politics, about
Christianity and Judaism, and about religion and science,
which the English people had found difficult of assimilation
when propounded in Coningsby, Sybil, and Tancred, in
Lord George Bentinck and in the Sheldonian speech, and
many of which were even now caviare to the general. The
whole literary performance of the year made Disraeli, the
man, a more interesting figure than ever ; but it only deep-
ened the doubts about Disraeli, the statesman, which the
heavy defeat of 1868, and the apparent hopelessness of the
Conservative cause in opposition, had aroused.
CHAPTER V
THE TUKN OF THE TIDE
1872-1873
' There are few positions less inspiriting than that of the
leader of a discomfited party.' The words are Disraeli's
own, from the first chapter of Lord George Bentinck, and
they were written in reference to Russell's position in the
Peel Parliament of 1841. But they apply with at least
equal force to the situation which Disraeli had himself
occupied since the General Election of 1868. Opposite
him there had sat an overwhelming and enthusiastic ma-
jority, who, with few exceptions, had steadily acted on the
principle that it was their duty l to say ditto to Mr. Glad-
stone ' as the Prime Minister pursued his strenuous career ;
and though in the session of 1871 there had been many
Ministerial mishaps, with the corollary of some Opposition
victories in by-elections, yet all the efforts of the Conserva-
tive party and the adroitness of their leader had hitherto
been unavailing materially to improve their position and
prospects. The Times, in a judicial leading article towards
the close of 1871, * pronounced that anything like a per-
manent tenure of office for the Conservatives was impos-
sible. ' The leaders of the party do not believe in it. The
country gives them no confidence. The majority is against
them. All the forces of the time are strained in an oppo-
site direction.' It was as true of Disraeli from 1869 to
1872, as of Russell from 1841 to 1845, that
he who in the Parliamentary field watches over the fortunes of
routed troops must be prepared to sit often alone. Few care
to share the labour which is doomed to be fruitless, and none
i Nov. 20.
171
172 THE TUKN OF THE TIDE [CHAP, v
are eager to diminish the responsibility of him whose course,
however adroit, must necessarily be ineffectual. ... A dis-
heartened Opposition will be querulous and captious. A dis-
couraged multitude have no future; too depressed to indulge
in a large and often hopeful horizon of contemplation, they busy
themselves in peevish detail, and by a natural train of senti-
ment associate their own conviction of ill-luck, incapacity, and
failure, with the most responsible member of their confedera-
tion. 1
The discontent reached a climax in the winter of 1871-
1872. The policy of reserve in opposition which Disraeli
had on the whole maintained, and which had produced satis-
factory results in alluring ministers into indiscretions, was
galling to eager and impetuous spirits ; and in the previous
session the ' Colonels ' had got out of hand in their violent
opposition to the Army Bill, and the anti-Disraeli clique in
their obstruction of the Ballot Bill. Complaint was made
that, in spite of tempting opportunities afforded by Minis-
terial blunders, Disraeli had avoided political speaking dur-
ing the recesses, putting off from year to year the demon-
stration in Manchester which his Lancashire friends pressed
him to accept. His own excuse to Matthew Arnold, who
met him at a country house party at Latimer in January,
1872, was that ' the Ministers were so busy going about
apologising for their failures that he thought it a pity to
distract public attention from the proceeding.' Further,
the publication of Lothair and of the General Preface to
the novels had revived all the former doubts as to whether
a Jewish literary man, so dowered with imagination, and
so unconventional in his outlook, was the proper person
to lead a Conservative party to victory. Would it not be
better to go into battle under the old Stanley banner?
Derby had gained golden opinions as Foreign Secretary,
and had that plain common sense, love of peace, and modera-
tion of political faith which appealed to the middle classes
in the rapidly growing urban communities, and which might
be expected, were he the party leader, to attract considerable
\ Lord George Bentinck, ch. 1.
1872]
DISSATISFACTION OF COLLEAGUES
173
Liberal support to the Conservative cause. The rival claims
of Disraeli and Derby were widely discussed by politicians
throughout the party and the country, in newspapers, clubs,
and debating societies; though Derby made no sign what-
ever, and there is not the smallest reason to suppose that
he would have consented to play the part his admirers al-
lotted to him.
Even Disraeli's colleagues were infected with the rising
spirit of dissatisfaction ; and no less intimate a friend than
Cairns was the first to give it expression at a gathering of
Conservative leaders at Burghley just before the session;
from which gathering not only Disraeli himself, but also
Derby, Richmond, and Malmesbury were absent. Hardy's
diary is our authority for what took place.
At our meeting (February 1) Cairns boldly broached the sub-
ject of Lord Derby's lead, and the importance of Disraeli know-
ing the general feeling. We all felt that none of his old
colleagues could, or would, undertake such a task as informing
him. John Manners alone professed ignorance of the feeling
in or out of doors. I expressed my view that D. has been loyal
to his friends, and that personally I would not say that I
preferred Lord D., but that it was idle to ignore the general
opinion. Noel * said that from his own knowledge he could say
that the name of Lord Derby as leader would affect 40 or 50
seats. . . . For my own part I do not look forward with hope
to Derby, but I cannot but admit that Disraeli, as far as appears,
has not the position in House and country to enable him to do
what the other might. 2
Northcote is not mentioned in this account; but he used
to say that he was the only one of those present who was
stanch to his chief, and to wonder if Disraeli knew of his
loyalty. It may be taken for granted that none of Dis-
raeli's colleagues informed him of the opinions expressed
at Burghley. Apparently, however, some representation
of the discontent of a section of his followers in the House
of Commons was conveyed to him, and in reply he intimated
that he would be quite ready to give place to Derby if the
i One of the Whips. 2 Gathorne Hardy, Vol. I., p. 305.
174 THE TUEN OF THE TIDE [CHAP, v
party wished it, but in that case he would himself retire
below the gangway a contingency which the most re-
calcitrant follower would hardly face.
In any case so shrewd a judge of party feeling could not
fail to be aware of the prevailing uneasiness ; accordingly,
while his lieutenants were discussing his shortcomings at
Burghley, he, as his correspondence shows, was gathering
in his hands all the strands of a complicated political situa-
tion, and preparing to demonstrate that he was as indis-
pensable as he had ever been since he had imposed himself
on his party in 1849. A rap over the knuckles for his col-
league, the duke who led the Opposition in the Lords, was
a clear reminder of his claims as leader especially if the
censure was, as Hardy thought, unjust. Incidentally the
high tone he takes shows how little disposed he was to that
adulation of dukes, which some who misread Lothair have at-
tributed to him. ' Talk not to me of dukes,' he burst out
on one occasion when a duke had disappointed him ; ' dukes
can be made ! ' He had made one himself.
To the Duke of Richmond.
Confidential. BURGHLEY HOUSE, STAMFORD, Jan. 11, 1872. I
have been much engaged during the last six weeks, in corre-
spondence with our supporters in the Ho. of Commons, as to
their course, in the next session, respecting the ballot. The
Lancashire members, our most powerful friends, are particularly
embarrassed by this question: the members for the Boro[ugh]s,
in some instances, being hard pressed by their constituents to
support it, while, on the other hand, Mr. Cross, the M.P. for
South Lancashire, who defeated Mr. Gladstone, moved, at bis
own request, the absolute rejection of the Bill during the last
session.
This gentleman, uneasy on the matter, and requesting my
advice, informed me, some time ago, that Lord Skelmersdale
bad assured him, that he might' depend on the Whig peers giving
the measure an uncompromising opposition. Not being myself
certain of this, I advised him, in our perplexity, not to change
his front, but not unnecessarily to dwell on the subject.
In this state of affairs, I took advantage of being in the West
to arrange to meet Lord Cairns at Ld. Malmesbury's, and to
1872] CORRESPONDENCE WITH RICHMOND 175
confer with him on matters in general, wh. daily assume a more
critical character. To my astonishment, I learned from Lord
Cairns, that your Grace had received a communication from
Lord Russell, that our party in the House of Lords must no
longer count on him, the Duke of Somerset, and others, as
opponents to the ballot. Lord Cairns naturally assumed that
your Grace had immediately apprised me of this information,
so necessary to me for the satisfactory conduct of business. 1
I am sure your Grace will not misconceive my meaning, when
I express my deep regret at the habitual want of communica-
tion, which now subsists between the leaders of our party in the
two Houses. If my individual feelings only we're concerned, I
should not touch upon the matter, but, with the responsibility of
conducting difficult affairs for the common good, it is my duty
to remark on circumstances, wh. I am sure, are fraught with
injurious consequences to the cause, wh. we are anxious to up-
hold.
From the Duke of Richmond.
GOODWOOD, CHICHESTER, Jan. 12, 1872. I hope that ere this
you will have reed, a letter which I wrote a few days aero, and
directed to Hughenden. I enclosed a letter from Lord Russell.
I will not conceal from you how very much annoyed I am
to find from your letter that you consider there has been habitual
want of communication subsisting between the leaders of our
party in the two Houses.
This wd. imply that I had studiously avoided acting with you.
If this was so I should have been justly liable to censure, for I
quite concur that, unless the leaders in both Houses act in con-
cert and with cordiality, it is quite impossible that the business
can be carried on in a satisfactory manner.
I think, if you reflect, you will recollect that I was in constant
communication with you during the last session of Parliament.
You will recollect Cairns and I met you in the Carlton to discuss
the American question. I also saw you frequently about the
Army Bill and the ballot, and communicated to you at once all
the negotiations which were then pending between me and Lord
Russell.
I did not think it necessary to trouble you with the letter
I reed. fr. Lord Russell after I got to Scotland, but always
intended to do so before the meeting of Parliament. It is possi-
ble that it would have been better had I sent it to you sooner,
i ' I shall certainly tell the Duke of R.,' wrote Malmesbury to Dis-
'aeli on Jan. S, ' my opinion as to his want of concert with you.'
1Y6 THE TURN OF THE TIDE [CHAP, v
but for some time past I have been very busy with my own affairs.
I have deemed it right to enter into these details, because I
am most anxious that you should be satisfied that I have not
been guilty of any want of courtesy towards you. Indeed I
should have hoped that our long acquaintance would have been
sufficient to have prevented you from imagining such a thing.
I quite appreciate the responsibility and difficulty of your posi-
tion, and always wish to assist you by all means in my power.
To the Duke, of Richmond.
LATIMER, OHESHAM, Jan. 16, 1872. I have received both your
letters, and have read the last in the spirit in wh. it is written.
I return herewith the letter of Lord Russell, and the copy
of his letter to Lord Lyveden. They do not appear to me to bear
altogether the interpretation, wh. Lord Cairns placed upon them,
or, rather, wh. I apprehended he placed upon them.
The intimations of Lord Eussell seem to me to be altogether
hypothetical, and to rest upon a basis, wh. he contemplated as
probable, but wh. has not occurred, viz., ' That the country would
support the House of Commons in asking for the ballot.'
The country during the recess has been silent on the subject,
and tho' many important elections have happened, and are about
to take place, the question of the ballot seems to have no in-
fluence upon their result.
Lord Russell and his friends, therefore, on the reassembling
of Parliament, are free to recur to their old grounds of opposi-
tion to the measure, and may even do so.
Whether such a course on their part should regulate ours, is
another question, and wh. I would rather leave to personal
deliberations when we are better acquainted with the exact propo-
sitions of the Ministry.
We must not conceal from ourselves, that the Tory party in
the Ho. of Commons is not united on the question, and tho'
I am not myself prepared, under any circumstances, to concede
the principle of secret voting, as at present advised, I fear our
ranks may be broken.
I wish I could see the practical elements of that compromise
wh. Lord Russell seems to contemplate. Any provision to secure
scrutiny and prevent personation, will, according to the Radical
view, destroy the Bill.
Richmond showed this correspondence to his principal
colleagues, who, while they gave him their sympathy, could
not fail to draw their own conclusions as to the disposition
1872] THE ALABAMA CLAIMS 177
of their chief. Cairns's comment was that after two years
of apathy Disraeli was beginning to wake up, and fancy all
beside were asleep. What Cairns called apathy might per-
haps be more truly described as calculated and successful
reserve ; but at any rate there is no doubt that Disraeli was
awake now.
The public question which gave him and his political
friends at the moment most concern was the difficulty with
the United States over the Alabama question. Disraeli
and his Foreign Secretary, Derby, had been the first British
statesmen in office to admit the principle of arbitration;
and accordingly Northcote, as a leading Conservative states-
man, had consented to take a share in negotiating in the
previous year the Treaty of Washington which carried the
principle into practical effect. 1 Disraeli was not satisfied
with the conduct of the negotiations; but, at any rate, the
terms of the treaty were so limited by the British Commis-
sioners as to render it in their opinion ultra vires for the
tribunal to admit and adjudicate upon those indirect claims,
making this country responsible for the prolongation of the
Civil War, which spread-eagle politicians in America like
Sumner put forward, but which Derby had expressly ex-
cluded in 1868. Great was the shock, therefore, when it
was discovered that the American case to be submitted to
the arbitrators embraced and insisted upon these very far-
reaching claims as well as those specifically * growing out of
the acts committed ' by certain vessels.
To Lord Cairns.
Private. GROSVENOR GATE, Jan. 27, 1872. . . . Affairs here
are most critical and anxious. All is absorbed in the Alabama
question. Hayward told Exmouth yesterday, that unless they
i Lord George Hamilton in his Reminiscences says that Northcote
accepted the task without consulting Disraeli ; but this appears to be
a mistake, as Lord Morley in his Gladstone, Bk; VI., ch. 9, quotes a
contemporary letter from Granville, then Foreign Secretary, to Glad-
stone : ' I asked Northcote. . . . He said he must ask Lady North-
cote, and requested permission to consult Dizzy. The former con-
sented, ditto Dizzy.'
178 THE TURN OF THE TIDE [CHAP, v
withdraw from the arbitration, the Cabinet must break up.
Would that they would withdraw! But can they? After hav-
ing advised their Sovereign to ratify the treaty and in such
haste !
I have not seen the foreign case, nor has Lord Derby, but
we know its scope from those who have Cockburn, Delane,
Ld. Stanhope and others speak of it as most masterly. North-
cote, who has it, speaks of it disparagingly: can easily be an-
swered, crushingly, and all that. But this is" not the point.
Our complaint is, that it opens the indirect issue, the relinquish-
ment of which by U.S. was our consideration for consenting
to express regret, and dealing with the law of nations ex post
facto. In the initiated quarters, there is no confidence in, at
least two of, the arbitrators. They are supposed to be manage-
able by an unscrupulous Government. Altogether I never knew
public feeling so disturbed and dark.
I am most anxious to see you Tuesday at 12. Perhaps North-
cote may be here. It was impossible for me to go to Burghley,
as I had previously declined Belvoir. At this moment I must
be at headquarters.
To Sir Stafford Northcote.
Private. GROSVENOR GATE, Jan. 30, '72. . . . Cairns has
been with me this morning. A long, but not a satisfactory, visit.
He holds, in this with me, that the Government scheme of pro-
testing to the arbitrators, and awaiting their judgment on the
protest, [is] quite futile.
They are not bound to adjudicate on the point and they will
decline. Arbitrators, he says, always avoid unnecessary de-
cisions, and details; and he is quite prepared, if the arbitra-
tion is concluded, that they will give their verdict for a sum
without apportioning the amount.
2. He holds withdrawal from the arbitration, a clear casus
belli.
3. He is of opinion that the treaty justifies the American
demand, and, he says, he said as much in House of Lords last
year.
In such a mess of difficulties all I can see at present, is to
counsel direct and friendly application to the Government of
Washington. This will not be a casus belli, but I fear must end
in that.
The Americans will not go to war at least at present for
there are many reasons to deter them, but they will keep the
1872] A BLAZE OF APOLOGY' 179
question open, and we shall still, after our sacrifices, have the
Alabama claims, but in a worse form. . . .
When Parliament met, Disraeli described the indirect
claims as ' preposterous and wild/ and equivalent to * the
tribute of a conquered people.' If the Government held
that there was no doubt that the treaty excluded these
claims, they must speak out calmly, frankly, and firmly,
avoiding ' the Serbonian bog of diplomacy,' and tell the
United States Government plainly that it was impossible to
accept their interpretation, and that, if they maintained
it, the treaty must be cancelled. Gladstone responded in
a like spirit, acknowledging Disraeli's patriotic and discreet
treatment of American questions, and insisting first that
the terms of the treaty were absolutely clear, and secondly
that no nation with any spirit could submit to the Ameri-'
can demands. There is no doubt that the strong support
which Disraeli gave to the Government materially con-
tributed to the cause of arbitration by convincing the Ameri-
can people that Great Britain was in earnest. The United
States, however, made it a point of honour not to waive the
indirect claims ; and the British Government on its side de-
termined to adjourn the arbitration until these were aban-
doned. But what the United States would not do as a
Government their arbitrator, Charles Francis Adams, did
for them. He persuaded his colleagues summarily to rule
these claims out ; and the arbitration accordingly proceeded.
Disraeli raised himself decidedly in public estimation by his
conduct of this question. It was seen that there had been
serious mismanagement by the Government to bring mat-
ters to such a pass, and that it was highly patriotic of Dis-
raeli to dwell but lightly on these shortcomings, and to
strengthen Gladstone's hands at a critical moment.
In other respects he did not spare the failures of Min-
isters. They had lived, he said in the debate on the Ad-
dress, during the last six months ' in a blaze of apology.'
They would have further opportunities for defending them-
180 THE TURN OF THE TIDE [CHAP, v
selves in the House. ' If it is in the power of the Gov-
ernment to prove to the country that our naval administra-
tion is such as befits a great naval power, they will soon
have an occasion for doing so; and if they are desirous of
showing that one of the transcendental privileges of a
strong Government is to evade Acts of Parliament which
they have themselves passed, I believe, from what caught
my ear this evening, that that opportunity will also be
furnished them.' The last sentence referred to two pieces
of the Prime Minister's patronage, one legal, the other
clerical, which required a good deal of apology. In one
case, Sir Robert Collier, the Attorney-General, had been
appointed a paid member of the Judicial Committee of the
Privy Council, although by statute such appointments were
limited to those who had held judicial positions in the su-
perior courts. A technical compliance with the law was
effected by making Collier a Judge of the Common Pleas
for a couple of days. In the other case, the rectory of
Ewelme, which by statute could only be held by a member
of Oxford Convocation, had been conferred upon a Cam-
bridge graduate, who was thereupon technically qualified
by being admitted to an ad eundem degree at Oxford.
There was no suggestion in either case that an unfit person
had been appointed; but the evasion of the plain meaning
of the law was rendered all the more flagrant by the fact
that the statutes regulating the two appointments had both
been passed at the instance of Gladstone's Government in the
preceding session of Parliament. Disraeli, who seldom in
his maturer years mixed himself up in personal squabbles,
took no part in the angry debates which were raised in both
Houses on these strange proceedings; though he noted with
satisfaction that the Collier appointment only escaped con-
demnation in the Commons by twenty-seven votes a num-
ber almost exactly corresponding with the number of Min-
isters voting while in the Lords the rescue had to be
effected by the Chancellor's own vote.
1872] POPULAR ADMIRATION FOR DISRAELI 181
To Montagu Corry.
H. OF C., Feb. 16, '72.. . . On Wednesday, the Government
had not even made a whip in the H. of C. for next Monday, and
last night, the Ministers thinking they were going to be beaten
by a whacking majority, like damned fools, did nothing but
abuse the House of Lords, and deride their judgment and in-
fluence.
The old Whigs, without an exception almost, came to their
rescue on this occasion, there having been a meeting at Brooks's
anent, and either our men purposely stayed away from fear of
disturbing the Ministry or were shockingly whipped, as is the
commoner opinion: the abuse of Skelmersdale being very rife.
He told me, the day before, the majority would be 60. Yes-
terday evening, about 8 o'clock, that it would be between 30 and
40, and at 12 o'clock, that it would be only ten. At J / past 12
he was beaten apparently by two: but there was an error of one
in the counting, and the majority was only an unit: described
really by the Lord Chancellor, who voted for himself! Our
friends are chapfallen, but for myself, I think the affair was
well enough. . . .
Disraeli's resolute and ambitious, character was not the
only thing with which the dissatisfied pundits of the party,
whether colleagues, members of Parliament, or wire-pullers,
forgot to reckon; there was also the profound impression
which his personality had made among the British people.
For the goodwill of the democracy he had never laid him-
self out, even when enormously extending their privileges.
No British statesman of recent years was ever less of a
demagogue^ With few, if striking, exceptions, it was only
in Parliament and in Bucks that he opened his lips. 'I
have never in the course of my life,' he said at Manchester
in April, ' obtruded myself upon any meeting.of my fellow-
countrymen unless I was locally connected with them, or
there were peculiar circumstances which might vindicate
me from the imputation of thrusting myself unnecessarily
on their attention.' But the admiration and confidence
which he had never courted came to him spontaneously, and
even for a while unperceived. Gladstone had been extraor-
dinarily popular in 1868 with an electorate which had been
182 THE TURN OF THE TIDE [CHAP, v
taught to believe that they owed to him that which they had
received from Disraeli. His inexhaustible and lofty elo-
quence, his insistence on the moral law in politics, the
specious cries with which he garnished his electoral cam-
paign, took captive an inexperienced constituency. But
the constantly destructive nature of their favourite's ener-
gies, his arrogant demeanour, his apparent indifference to
his country's prestige, the un-English casuistry which was
inwoven in his moral texture, and the inexplicable vagaries
of many of his colleagues, had alienated public sympathy ;
and that enthusiastic nature of the English people, on which
it was Disraeli's wont to insist, led them to seek another
object for their trust, as different as might be from him
who had so failed them. Disraeli had for years excited
an amused curiosity and interest; but it was as often an
interest of repulsion as of attraction. There was now an
awakening to the fact that his patience, his courage, his
genius, his experience, and his patriotism constituted a
character round which popular feeling, disappointed in its
idol, might safely rally.
The first outward sign of this development of opinion
was shown in the autumn of 1871, when the youth of Liberal
Scotland recognised Disraeli's eminence by electing him, in
preference to Ruskin, as the Lord Rector of Glasgow Uni-
versity. But London politicians, and probably Disraeli
himself, first realised how strong was the popular interest
in him on February 27, 1872, when the Prince of Wales
went to St. Paul's to return thanks for his recovery from
typhoid fever, and when the people had in consequence an
unusual opportunity of singling out its favourites as they
passed in succession along the streets. The reception of
Gladstone was indifferent or hostile; J but that of Disraeli
was so enthusiastic that Sir William Eraser maintains that
it changed his destiny. Eraser writes :
On returning from St. Paul's, Disraeli met with an over-
powering ' ovation ' ; I should say ' triumph/ for he was in
i See Life of Dean Church, p. 291.
1872] VISIT TO MANCHESTER 183
his chariot. This not only continued from the City to Waterloo
Place; but his carriage, ascending Regent Street, turning to
the right 1 along Oxford Street, and thence back to the Carlton
Club, the cheers which greeted him from all classes convinced
him that, for the day at least, a more popular man did not exist
in England. Soon after his return I happened to pass into the
morning room of the Carlton Club. Disraeli was leaning against
the table immediately opposite to the glass door, wearing the
curious white coat which he had for years occasionally put on
over his usual dress. Familiar as I was with his looks and
expression, I never saw him with such a countenance as he had
at that moment. I have heard it said by one who spoke to
Napoleon I. at Orange in France, that his face was as that of
one who looks into another world : that is the only description
I can give of Disraeli's look at the moment I speak of. He
seemed more like a statue than a human being: never before
nor since have I seen anything approaching it : he was ostensibly
listening to Mr. Sclater Booth, now Lord Basing. In the after-
noon I said to the latter, ' What was Disraeli talking about
when I came into the room ? ' He replied, ' About some county
business ; I wanted his opinion.' I said, ' I will tell you what
he was thinking about: he was thinking that he will be Prime
Minister again ! ' I had no doubt at the time ; nor have I ever
doubted since. 8 L-
The principal demonstration of Disraeli's popularity with
the masses and of the reviving power of Conservatism was
made at Manchester at Easter, when he and his wife paid
that visit to his Lancashire friends which was so long
overdue. It was, as Disraeli wrote, a ' wondrous week.'
It opened on Easter Monday with a rousing reception by a
holiday crowd of workers who promptly extemporised a
human team to draw the visitors' carriage. But perhaps
its most striking feature was an immense parade next day,
undaunted by pitiless rain, of deputations from all the Con-
servative Associations of the county, between two and three
hundred in number. For each deputation the leader had
an apt word, as one after another, with banners flying and
i ' Eight ' is apparently a mistake for ' left.' The carriage was pre-
sumably going to drop Lady Beaconsfield at Grosvenor Gate before
taking Disraeli to the Carlton Club.
2 Fraser, pp. 374-376.
184 THE TURN OF THE TIDE [CHAP, v
laudatory addresses in their hands, they defiled before Dis-
raeli and Lady Beaconsfield, filling the vast dancing hall
of the Pomona Gardens, a building reckoned to hold thirty or
forty thousand people.
Well might Disraeli be proud of the show, as it was the
direct result of his own labours behind the scenes. During
these years of reserve in opposition, when he appeared to
colleagues and followers to be apathetic, he had been quietly
working at Conservative reorganisation, and creating a ma-
chine which was to lead to the victory of 1874, and to be
the forerunner of the great party organisations of to-day.
The arrangements for party management which he had
originally made in the early fifties with Rose, his lawyer
and confidential agent, and which had been continued, after
Rose's withdrawal, with Spofforth, a member of Rose's
firm, had been a great improvement on the chaos which
existed before Disraeli's accession to the leadership. But,
even with the assistance and supervision of that shrewd poli-
tician the late Lord Abergavenny, and of a special commit-
tee appointed ad hoc in 1868, they were wholly insufficient,
as had been shown in the last election, for an age of house-
hold suffrage and large popular constituencies. An entirely
new system must be set up ; and Disraeli looked about for a
young and ambitious Conservative who would be ready to de-
vote the best years of his life to working out a scheme. His
choice fell upon John Eldon Gorst, 1 a barrister, who had
had a distinguished career at Cambridge, and had sat for a
year or two in Parliament, but was now no longer a mem-
ber. An authentic statement of what was done by Disraeli
in this important sphere is furnished in a short political
life of him written by Gorst' s son. 2 What was most wanted,
Disraeli told his new manager, was that every constituency
should have a suitable candidate ready in advance. To
secure this desirable object a Central Conservative Office
1 Afterwards Sir John Gorst, Q.C., Solicitor-General, and subse-
quently Under-Secretary for India.
2 See Harold Gorst's Earl of Beaconsfield, ch. 13.
1872] CONSERVATIVE ORGANISATION 185
was established in Whitehall under the party manager and
furnished with a capable staff. Then the influential Con-
servatives in each constituency were persuaded to form local
associations on a substantially democratic basis ; the interest
and co-operation were sought and obtained, not merely of
aristocratic and professional and trading classes, but also
of the local artisans. In Lancashire, where several Con-
servative working men's societies already existed, the idea
was taken up with special enthusiasm. Communication was
regularly maintained between the central office and the
provincial associations. The central office kept a register
of approved candidates; but instead of supplying these at
its discretion to the constituencies, it endeavoured to get the
local people to make their own selection. ' In registering
candidates care was taken to note down their peculiar quali-
fications. ... A constituency, in applying for a candidate,
was asked to state the kind of man wanted. The party man-
ager declined to make the selection himself, but requested
some of the leading men in the constituency to come up and
make their own choice. Meanwhile a list of likely men was
compiled from the register; and, if desirable, personal in-
terviews were arranged. By this means each place was
provided with a candidate suitable to its political needs.'
Finally, mainly at the suggestion of Henry Cecil Raikes, a
coping stone was put on the edifice by the affiliation of all
these Conservative associations to a comprehensive Na-
tional Union.
Though, in entrusting the business to Gorst, Disraeli
left him a free hand, he paid nevertheless constant personal
attention to all that was being done, and was ready to give
his manager the benefit of his sagacity and experience at
every stage. And when the machine was established and
was proving its utility by the satisfactory results of the by-
elections from 1871 onwards, he kept a careful watch on
its working in each particular instance. Writing to a friend
in October, 1873, he mentioned that 'after every borough
election, an expert visits the scene of action, and prepares
186 THE TURN OF THE TIDE [CHAP, v
a confidential despatch for me, that, so far as is possible, I
may be thoroughly acquainted with the facts.' One point
he made clear from the outset, as might be anticipated from
his insistence on accompanying his great measure of Re-
form by a Corrupt Practices Act. He was resolved that
no countenance whatever should be given by his new or-
ganisation to the practice on which both parties had too often
relied in the past, the winning of elections by bribery.
Disraeli was thus responsible for starting the first great
party machine, and he reaped the harvest in the victory of
1874. But, though experience here and elsewhere seems to
prove that party organisations are essential to democratic
government, Disraeli's judicious admirers are hardly likely
to claim much credit for him on the score of this feat. As
might have been expected, the Liberals bettered the Con-
servative example by perfecting the Birmingham caucus,
and extending its operations to the whole country ; and the
machine soon became so highly organised on both sides as to
make increasingly difficult the entry into the House of
Commons, and the continuance there, of those independent
politicians to secure whose adhesion it was necessary for
Governments in the past to look beyond party. Hence there
has come a serious decline of Parliamentary control over
Ministers ; and a great accession of power to the statesman
or the party committee who may happen to have commanded
at the preceding election the support of a majority in the
constituencies.
The full importance of the parade of Conservative asso-
ciations at Manchester was hardly realised at the time ; and
attention was mainly fixed on the great meeting on the
Wednesday evening * in the Free Trade Hall, where, with
Derby by his side and the numerous Conservative members
for the county on the platform, Disraeli spoke to an enthusi-
astic audience with unflagging spirit for three hours and a
quarter. In this effort, so tremendous for a man never
very robust and in his sixty-eighth year, he was sustained,
i April 3.
1872] IMPORTANCE OF THE MONARCHY 187
H. C. Raikes tells us, by two bottles of white brandy, indis-
tinguishable by onlookers from the water taken, with it,
which he drank in doses of ever-increasing strength till he
had consumed the whole !
The speech was an answer to the Liberal taunt that the
Conservatives had no programme. Their programme, said
Disraeli, was to maintain the Constitution of the country,
because political institutions were the embodied experience
of race. It was the cue of his critics to say that our great
institutions, such as the Monarchy, the House of Lords,
and the Church were as dear to Gladstone and the Liberals
as to the Conservatives, and so their defence could not be
appropriated by any one party. But the left wing of the
Liberal party was in full cry both against the Church and
against the House of Lords ; and individual Radicals, who
could not be dismissed as nobodies, Dilke and Auberon
Herbert, were declaiming against the heavy cost of Mon-
archy, and comparing it unfavourably with the supposed
cheapness of a republic. Moreover, on all these questions,
as Disraeli pointed out, Gladstone sent forth an uncertain
sound, avoiding, as far as might be, a distinct breach with
even extreme followers. On each of the three threatened
institutions, Disraeli had something to say which arrested
attention. He maintained that the continuous prosperity of
the country and its advance in civilisation were very largely
due to the Throne.
Since the settlement of [the] Constitution, now nearly two
centuries ago, England has never experienced a revolution,
though there is no country in which there has been so continu-
ous and such considerable change. How is this? Because the
wisdom of your forefathers placed the prize of supreme power
without the sphere of human passions. Whatever the struggle
of parties, whatever the strife of factions, whatever the excite-
ment and exaltation of the public mind, there has always been
something in this country round which all classes and parties
could rally, representing the majesty of the law, the administra-
tion of justice, and involving, at the same time, the security for
every man's rights and the fountain of honour.
188 THE TURN OF THE TIDE [CHAP, v
Disraeli proceeded to explain, in language which, though
of course general, recalled his speech about the Queen in
the autumn, that it was a mistake to suppose that the per-
sonal influence of the Sovereign was absorbed in the re-
sponsibility of the Minister: and that such influence must
increase, the longer the reign and the ^greater the experi-
ence of the Sovereign. That, it may be added, was cer-
tainly, in the opinion of competent statesmen, the case with
Queen Victoria, whose influence, in spite of the increasing
democratisation of the country, was never greater than in
the twenty years by which she survived her favourite Min-
ister. As to the cost of Monarchy, Disraeli pointed out
how cheap it was, compared with the Continental scale ; and
even compared with America, when you added together the
salaries of the Federal Legislature and those of all the sover-
eign legislatures of the different states that went to form
that greatest of republics an argument, by the way,
which has been weakened since members of Parliament here
have accepted payment.
With regard to the House of Lords, experience showed
a Second Chamber to be necessary ; but with the exception
of the American Senate, composed of materials not possessed
by other States, no other country had solved successfully
the problem of its constitution, whereas the House of
Lords had developed historically, and periodically adapted
itself to the necessities of the times. That House had the
first quality of a Second Chamber, independence, based on
the firmest foundation, responsible property. Would life
peerages be as satisfactory ? A peer for life could exercise
the power entrusted to him according to his own will ; and
nobody could call him to account. But a peer whose dig-
nities descend to his children had every inducement to study
public opinion, ' because he naturally feels that if the order
to which he belongs is in constant collision with public
opinion, the chances are that his dignities will not descend
to his posterity.'
1872] SOCIAL REFORM 189
There are some philosophers who believe that the best substi-
tute for the House of Lords would be an assembly formed of
ex-Governors of Colonies. . . . When the Muse of Comedy threw
her frolic grace over society, a retired governor was generally
one of the characters in every comedy and the last of our great
actors . . ., Mr. Farren, was celebrated, for his delineation of
the character in question. Whether it be the recollection of that
performance or not, I confess I am inclined to believe that an
English gentleman born to business, managing his own estate,
administering the affairs of his county, mixing with all classes
of his fellowmen, now in the hunting field, now in the railway
direction, unaffected, unostentatious, proud of his ancestors, if
they have contributed to the greatness of our common country
is, on the whole, more likely to form a senator agreeable to
English opinion and English taste than any substitute that has
yet been produced.
Disraeli's defence of the Church followed the lines which
he had adopted in the sixties. He dwelt on the vital im-
portance of connecting authority with religion, and main-
tained that ^to have secured a national profession of faith
with the unlimited enjoyment of private judgment in mat-
ters spiritual is the solution of the most difficult problem,
and one of the triumphs, of civilisation.' As a practical
answer to the disestablishers he pointed out how powerfully
and highly organised and wealthy a corporation the Church
was, and must remain, whatever the conditions of dises-
tablishment; and asked whether the severance of the con-
trolling tie which bound such a body to the State could be
favourable to the cause of civil and religious liberty. He
had a great respect for the Nonconformists, and expressed
his mortification that, from a feeling of envy or pique, they
should have become the partisans of secular education, in-
stead of working with the Church for religious education,
which was ' demanded by the nation generally and by the
instincts of human nature.'
While expressing his belief that the working classes both
in town and country had shared in that advance of national
prosperity which had been favoured by the stability of
190 THE TURK OF THE TIDE [CHAP, v
our political institutions, he pointed to social reform as
a sphere in which no inconsiderable results might be ob-
tained, and gave his party a famous catchword.
A great scholar and a great wit, 300 years ago, said that, in
his opinion, there was a great mistake in the Vulgate, which
as you all know is the Latin translation of the Holy Scriptures,
and that, instead of saying ' Vanity of vanities, all is vanity '
Vanitas vaniiaiutn,, omnia vanitas the wise and witty King
really said, Sanitas sanitatum, omnia sanitas* Gentlemen, it
is impossible to overrate the importance of the subject. After
all, the first consideration of a Minister should be the health
of the people.
So far Disraeli's discourse had been rather a constitu-
tional lecture 2 than a party speech. But now he turned
on the Government and in biting words summed up the pith
of his charges against their proceedings. It was an Ad-
ministration avowedly formed on a principle of violence.
Their specific for the peace and prosperity of Ireland was
to despoil churches and plunder landlords, with the result
of sedition rampant, treason thinly veiled, and the steady
return to Parliament of Home Rulers ' pledged to the dis-
ruption of the realm.' ' Her Majesty's new Ministers pro-
ceeded in their career like a body of men under the influ-
ence of some deleterious drug. Not satiated with the spoli-
ation and anarchy of Ireland, they began to attack every in-
stitution and every interest, every class and calling in the
country.' After giving some instances he proceeded in a
passage which Lord Morley calls ' one of the few pieces of
classic oratory of the century.'
As time advanced it was not difficult to perceive that extrava-
gance was being substituted for energy hy the Government.
The unnatural stimulus was subsiding. Their paroxysms ended
in prostration. Some took refuge in melancholy, and their
eminent chief alternated between a menace and a sigh. As I
1 Disraeli had given this watchword of Sanitas, etc., at Aylesbury
on September 21, 1864, without much notice being taken of it.
2 Cairns, in congratulating Disraeli on the speech, wrote: 'It will
live and be read, not only for its sparkling vigour, but also for the deep
strata of constitutional thought and reasoning which pervade it.'
1872] 'EXHAUSTED VOLCANOES' 191
sat opposite the Treasury Bench the Ministers reminded me of
one of those marine landscapes not very unusual on the coasts
of South America. You behold a range of exhausted volcanoes.
Not a flame flickers on a single pallid crest. But the situation
is still dangerous. There are occasional earthquakes, and ever
and anon the dark rumbling of the sea.
Before concluding, Disraeli turned to foreign affairs,
prefacing what he had to say with a few introductory sen-
tences whose truth will be more generally acknowledged
now than they were in the early seventies, in spite of the
then recent lesson of the Franco-German War.
I know the difficulty of addressing a body of Englishmen on
these topics. The very phrase ' foreign affairs ' makes an Eng-
lishman convinced that I am about to treat of subjects with
which he has no concern. Unhappily the relations of England
with the rest of the world, which are ' foreign affairs/ are the
matters which most influence his lot. Upon them depends the
increase or reduction of taxation. Upon them depends the
enjoyment or the embarrassment of his industry. And yet,
though so momentous are the consequences of the mismanage-
ment of our foreign relations, no one thinks of them till the
mischief occurs, and then it is found how the most vital conse-
quences have been occasioned by mere inadvertence.
Disraeli proceeded to condemn the weakness of the Gov-
ernment in its dealings with Russia over the Black Sea, and
its negligence and blundering in regard to the difficulties
with the United States over the indirect claims; and he
finished on the imperial note.
Doix't suppose, because I counsel firmness and decision at the
right moment, that I am of that school of statesmen who are
favourable to a turbulent and aggressive diplomacy. I have
resisted it during a great part of my life. I am not unaware that
the relations of England to Europe have undergone a vast change
during the century that has just elapsed. The relations of
England to Europe are not the same as they were in the days
of Lord Chatham or Frederick the Great. The Queen of Eng-
land has become the Sovereign of the most powerful of Oriental
States. On the other side of the globe there are new establish-
ments belonging to her, teeming with wealth and population,
192 THE TURN OF THE TIDE [CHAP, v
which will, in due time, exercise their influence over the distribu-
tion of power. The old establishments of this country, now
the United States of America, throw their lengthening shades
over the Atlantic, which mix with European waters. These are
vast and novel elements in the distribution of power. I ac-
knowledge that the policy of England with respect to Europe
should be a policy of reserve, but proud reserve; and in answer
to those statesmen, those mistaken statesmen, who have inti-
mated the decay of the power of England and the decline of her
resources, I express here my confident conviction that there never
was a moment in our history when the power of England was
so great and her resources so vast and inexhaustible. And yet,
gentlemen, it is not merely our fleets and armies, our powerful
artillery, our accumulated capital, and our unlimited credit on
which I so much depend, as upon that unbroken spirit of her
people, which I believe was never prouder of the Imperial country
to which they belong.
The speech and the Manchester reception at once placed
Disraeli's leadership beyond question, and proved the re-
ality of Conservative reaction. Sidonia's familiar words
' The age of ruins is past. Have you seen Manchester ? '
had acquired a fresh significance. That Conservatism
should have taken such a hold of Lancashire and that Man-
chester should welcome Disraeli with such enthusiasm was
indeed a portent. There was no more industrial district in
England, and none where the working man was more in-
dependent. Manchester was the home of Free Trade,
and the hall in which Disraeli spoke was the favourite plat-
form of Cobden and Bright during the struggle against the
Corn Laws. Lancashire was the native county of both Glad-
stone and Bright, the pillars of Liberalism at this period;
and Gladstone, by political progresses through its towns in
the sixties, had made an impassioned bid for its support.
Both Gladstone and Bright had sat for awhile for Lancashire
seats ; but both had been defeated and gone elsewhere. The
great territorial Conservative influence in Lancashire was
that of the house of Stanley, whose present head was desig-
nated by the discontented as Disraeli's supplanter. But
even in Lancashire Derby was ready to yield Disraeli place,
1872] MANCHESTER TO CRYSTAL PALACE 193
to speak of him not merely as his ' old political colleague '
and ' a personal friend of more than twenty years' standing,'
but as his ' chief/ and to bear striking testimony to his
high qualities. ' Few leaders of men have ever been more
successful in securing the personal confidence and sym-
pathy and goodwill of those with whom they act, and no one
has ever shown himself more faithful both to the obliga-
tion of private friendship and to the honourable tie of party
connection.' Another passage in Derby's speech at the
meeting in the Free Trade Hall showed that the Conserva-
tive leaders were determined not to snatch prematurely
at power, but to wait till the disgust of the country with
Gladstonian policy was complete. It might be the tactics
of the Radical party to put a Conservative Government in
office in a minority ; ' but just because it is their game it
ought not to be ours.' The course which Disraeli took
when Gladstone resigned over his defeat in the following
spring on the Irish University Bill was clearly foreshadowed
in this sagacious advice.
To W. Romaine Callender, jun. 1
GROSVENOR GATE, April 6, 1872. I am sure you and kind Mrs.
Callender will be glad to hear of our safe and agreeable arrival
at Grosvenor Gate; cheered, as far as the Potteries, by your
enthusiastic population, which calmed, by degrees, as we entered
less busy lands, and which, when we traversed my own country,
was as still as became a true prophet.
One is little disposed to do anything to-day, but it is impos-
sible to refrain expressing to you our sense of all your kindness,
delicate attentions, and munificent hospitality.
We have talked of them ever since, and shall often do so ; and,
from all I hear, this wondrous week will have no ordinary in-
fluence on public opinion and future history. . . .
Disraeli took another opportunity in June to review
and inspirit his new party machine and to elaborate the
1 Disraeli's host at Manchester and chairman of the Free Trade Hall
meeting. He won a seat at Manchester in 1874, was selected by Dis-
raeli to second the Address, and was offered by him a baronetcy at
the close of 1875; but he died, prematurely, early in 1876, before the
baronetcy had been gazetted.
194 THE TURN OF THE TIDE [CHAP, v
policy which he proposed to the country. This time the
body which he addressed was the National Union, the
central society to which the Conservative and Constitutional
associations throughout the country were affiliated. Speak-
ing, on June 24, to this representative audience at a banquet
at the Crystal Palace he laid it down that the Tory party
had three great objects : to maintain our institutions, to up-
hold the Empire, and to elevate the condition of the people.
On the first he had dwelt at considerable length at Man-
chester, and he added little that was fresh at the Crystal
Palace. With regard to social reform, Liberals had scoffed
at his proposals as a ' policy of sewage ' ; but to a working
man, Disraeli maintained, it was a policy of life and death.
It was, he said, a large subject, with many branches.
It involves the state of the dwellings of the people, the moral
consequences of which are not less considerable than the physi-
cal. It involves their enjoyment of some of the chief elements
of nature air, light, and water. It involves the regulation
of their industry, the inspection of their toil. It involves the
purity of their provisions, and it touches upon all the means by
which you may wean them from habits of excess and of brutality.
But the part of his speech which struck the highest note
was that which associated Conservatism with the main-
tenance of Empire. His Reform Act of 1867, he said, was
founded on the confidence that the great body of the people
were conservative in the purest and loftiest sense; that the
working classes were proud of belonging to a great country,
and wished to maintain its greatness ; that they were proud
of belonging to an Imperial country, and resolved to main-
tain their Empire. What was the record of Liberalism
in regard to Empire, and what ought to be Conservative
policy ?
If you look to the history of this country since the advent of
Liberalism forty years ago you will find that there has been
no effort so continuous, so subtle, supported by so much energy,
and carried on with so much ability and acumen, as the attempts
of Liberalism to effect the disintegration of the Empire of Eng-
1872] CONSERVATISM AND EMPIRE 195
land. And, gentlemen, of all its efforts, this is the one which
has been the nearest to success. Statesmen of the highest char-
acter, writers of the most distinguished ability, the most organ-
ised and efficient means, have been employed in this endeavour.
It has been proved to all of us that we have lost money by our
Colonies. It has been shown with precise, with mathematical
demonstration, that there never was a jewel in the Crown of
England that was so truly costly as the possession of India.
How often has it been suggested that we should at once emanci-
pate ourselves from this incubus! Well, that result was nearly
accomplished. When those subtle views were adopted by the
country under the plausible plea of granting self-government
to the Colonies, I confess that I myself thought that the tie was
broken. Not that I for one object to self-government; I cannot
conceive how our distant Colonies can have their affairs ad-
ministered except by self-government.
But self-government, in my opinion, when it was conceded,
ought to have been conceded as part of a great policy of Imperial
consolidation. It ought to have been accompanied by an Im-
perial tariff, by securities for the people of England for the
enjoyment of the unappropriated lands which belonged to the
Sovereign as their trustee, and by a military code which should
have precisely defined the means and the responsibilities by which
the Colonies should be defended, and by which, if necessary,
this country should call for aid from the Colonies themselves.
It ought, further, to have been accompanied by the institution
of some representative council in the metropolft, which would
have brought the Colonies into constant and continuous relations
with the Home Government. All this, however, was omitted be-
cause those who advised that policy and I believe their con-
victions were sincere looked upon the Colonies of England,
looked even upon our connection with India, as a burden upon
this country; viewing everything in a financial aspect, and
totally passing by those moral and political considerations which
make nations great, and by the influence of which alone men are
distinguished from animals.
Well, what has been the result of this attempt during the reign
of Liberalism for the disintegration of the Empire? It has
entirely failed. But how has it failed? Through the sympathy
of the Colonies for the Mother Country. They have decided
that the Empire shall not be destroyed; and in my opinion no
Minister in this country will do his duty who neglects any oppor-
tunity of reconstructing as much as possible our Colonial
Empire, and of responding to those distant sympathies which
196 THE TURN OF THE TIDE [CHAP, v
may become the source of incalculable strength and happiness
to this land.
That is the famous declaration from which the modern
conception of the British Empire largely takes its rise. In
it Disraeli struck a chord that immediately echoed round the
Colonies, India, and the Dependencies; and the reverbera-
tion has never ceased. The time could not be far dis-
tant, he prophetically told his hearers, when England would
have to decide between national and cosmopolitan principles.
In their fight against Liberalism or the Continental system
Conservatives would have against them those who had en-
joyed power for nearly half a century; but still they could
rely, he said in sonorous Disraelian language, on ' the sub-
lime instincts of an ancient people.'
The issue is not a mean one. It is whether you will be content
to be a comfortable England, modelled and moulded upon Con-
tinental principles and meeting in due course an inevitable fate,
or whether you will be a great country, an Imperial country, a
country where your sons, when they rise, rise to paramount
positions, and obtain not merely the esteem of their countrymen,
but command the respect of the world.
Lord Morley remarks of Disraeli's watchwords of Em-
pire and Social Reform, that * when power fell into his hands
he made no single move of solid effect for either social re-
form or imperial unity/ 1 whereas it was Gladstone's wont
to embody policy in Parliamentary Bills. The statement
is very far from being accurate, and subsequent chapters
of this biography will show what a material contribution
both to social welfare and to imperial consolidation was made
by the Beaconsfield Government of 1874. But it is, of
course, true that many of Disraeli's most fertile ideas did
not issue in Bills; and as a practical politician he must in
this respect yield place to Gladstone. It is, however, pre-
cisely the fact that Gladstone seldom or never played with
political ideas which could not be enclosed within the com-
pass of a Bill that marks his inferiority as a statesman and
i Gladstone, Bk. VI., ch. 8.
1872] THE NEUTRALITY OF BELGIUM 197
explains his diminishing hold on the present generation;
and it is precisely the fact that Disraeli did allow his mind
such free play that is his greatest praise in our eyes and that
will insure his fame with those who come after us.
Between Manchester and the Crystal Palace Disraeli
had another proof of his growing popularity. He attended,
along with a crowd of distinguished personages, the Literary
Fund dinner, in order to support a reigning Sovereign in
the chair, Leopold II., King of the Belgians. Writing to
Corry a day or two afterwards, he said : ' The demon-
stration at the Literary Fund meeting was equal to Man-
chester. The mob consisting of Princes, Ainbassadors,
wits, artists and critics ! ' His speech in proposing the
King's health was one of his happiest. It was a charming
and delightful inconsistency, he said, that the republic of
letters should be presided over by a monarch; let them
meet it by an inconsistency as amiably flagrant, and give
their Sovereign Chairman a right royal welcome. Hia
description of Belgium, and of the policy which guaranteed
its independence and neutrality, has a special interest to-
day.
Forty years ago a portion of Europe, and one not the least
fair, seemed doomed by an inexorable fate to permanent depend-
ence and periodical devastation. And yet the condition of that
country were favorable to civilisation and human happiness; a
fertile soil skillfully cultivated, a land covered with beautiful
cities and occupied by a race prone alike to liberty and religion,
and always excelling in the fine arts. In the midst of a European
convulsion, a great statesman resolved to terminate that deplor-
able destiny, and conceived the idea of establishing the inde-
pendence of Belgium on the principle of political neutrality.
The idea was welcomed at first with sceptical contempt. But
we who live in the after generation can bear witness to its
triumphant success, and can take the opportunity of congratu-
lating that noble policy which consecrated to perpetual peace the
battlefield of Europe.
Disraeli's political activities in this spring of 1872 were
almost entirely confined to his two great extra-Parliamentary
198 THE TURN OF THE TIDE [CHAP, v
appearances. He was much shocked in February to re-
ceive the news of the murder of his friend Mayo, the Viceroy
of India, in the Andaman Islands.
To Lady Beaconsfield.
Feb. 12, '72. Horrible news from India! Lord Mayo assas-
sinated and dead! The enclosed telegram is from Robert
Bourke !
Shall be home pretty early.
Quite shaken to the centre. Gladstone announced it: I said
a few words.
' G. GATE, April 26, '72. Last night was very damaging to the
Government : 1 a family quarrel, in which we did not interfere,
except on the part of Ball, who could scarcely be silent. Bou-
verie in fierce opposition; and though the affair ended without
a vote, as was inevitable, the Government most unnecessarily
blundered into a signal defeat at the end of the night. . . .
May 7. Last night the Government received a great, and
unexpected, blow : Gordon's resolution 2 having been carried to
the surprise of both sides! The cheering exceeded even that on
the Ballot Clause. . . .
To Lord Derby.
GROSVENOR GATE, May 3, 1872. My suggestion of identical
subscriptions from [Mayo's] colleagues found no favor. It was
thought to be an idea, perhaps, suited to colleagues in a Ministry,
who then can frame a tariff according to their salaries, but was
not deemed applicable to existing circumstances. Our late
colleagues are like Martial's epigrams: some rich, some poor,
some moderate, so they prefer subscribing according to their
means, or their inclination. . . .
The ballot was again seriously damaged in Ho. of Comm.
last night, and we supported the Govt. and the Whigs against
an infuriated Mountain. . . .^
The Ballot Bill was the main occupation of the session;
and as Disraeli's object, in view of divided opinions in his
party, was to get the question settled, he maintained a
rigorous silence while it was running a troubled course
1 A debate on a University Tests (Dublin) Bill, in which independent
Liberals like Fawcett, Playfair, and Bouverie strongly attacked the
Government.
2 On the Scottish Education Bill. The Government was defeated by
7; 216 to 209.
1872] BALLOT BILL 199
through the House. His policy was to take care that the
Liberals should not have a popular grievance to exploit, a
popular cry on which to dissolve, either through the failure
of the Bill in the Commons owing to Tory obstruction or
through its rejection on second reading by the Lords. But
he hoped that amendments making the Bill optional would
be secured in the Lords by the pressure of a unanimous
Tory party aided by Kussell and the old Whigs. This
programme was duly carried out, and when the Bill was
returned amended to the Commons Disraeli broke his silence
to defend the fantastic plan of optional secrecy. But the
Commons would have none of it; and in the Lords, the
Duke of Northumberland, at the head of a body of inde-
pendent Conservatives, averted a struggle between the two
Houses by supporting the motion not to insist upon the
amendment. Disraeli was rather put out at the way in
which the matter had been bungled.
To Lord Derby.
GROSVENOR GATE, June 20, 1872. I was in hopes I might have
met you somewhere yesterday, and had a few minutes' conver-
sation with you re Ballot Bill (H. of Lords) wh. seems to me
in an unsatisfactory position.
When the Duke of Richmond called on me to confer on his
alternative propositions to throw out the Bill on the 2nd
reading, or to make it permissive in Committee, I assented to
the latter scheme on the very distinct conditions that it shd. be
sanctioned by the unanimous assent of the party, and especially
of yourself. The Duke subsequently wrote to me, that he had
conferred with you, Ld. Salisbury, and others, and that you had
unanimously adopted the latter scheme.
But it seems there must have been some terrible mistake on
this head, as I observe you did not vote on the occasion, and
it is now rumored, that you disapprove of the proposal.
Unless the Duke is supported, the Ballot Bill will pass, wh.
neither the House of Comm. nor the country desire. It is im-
possible for the Duke to recede from his position ; it would make
him ridiculous and totally unable in future to pretend to control
affairs. Lord Russell sanctioned the move, and still is of opinion,
that we shd. not recede from the ground we have, after delibera-
tion, occupied. Whether the Duke is beaten or not, his character
200 THE TURN OF THE TIDE [CHAP, v
and the repute of the party demand that he shall be firm. All
that important and influential section who were in favor of
throwing out the Bill on the 2nd reading, at least on our side,
would be outraged, if there were any transaction or compromise,
wh. secured the virtual passing of the Government measure.
I hope, therefore, you will gravely consider these critical cir-
cumstances, for, tho' the Duke of Richmond, publicly and
privately, must make every effort to rally his forces for the
occasion, there is no doubt those exertions will be considerably
neutralised if you are the avowed opponent of his proceedings.
July 12. Thanks for your letter, wh. is full of good stuff ;
I. think we may raise a flame, wh. will well occupy the lieges
during the recess, and sustain the unpopularity of the Ministry.
The ballot in your house was a sad business. Nothing but
unanimity could justify our course. I think it was the right
one, and that throwing out the Bill on the second reading (even
if it cd. be done) would have raised an agitation against
the House of Lords on the ground of their purely obstructive
policy.
The Duke of Northumberland shd. be asked why, after having
attended the two meetings at D. of Richmond's in silence,
interpreted as assent, he shd. have led the defection? Had he
spoken out at the meetings and been supported, the course might
have been changed.
The truth is, I fancy, he, and his following, and all others,
were satisfied enough at the time, but got frightened afterwards
by the articles in The Times, wh. laughed at them the next day
for their pains.
However, the mischief is done, and our only consolation must
be, that the Government wh. first appeals to the country on
the secret suffrage, will, in all probability, be cashiered.
One serious rebuff which the Government received in
this session must have given Disraeli peculiar satisfaction.
When he had assumed the leadership in the spring of 1849
he had made it his principal object to endeavour to convince
Parliament of the injustice suffered by the landed interest
in having charged upon it the whole of the local rates.
Kates, he had pointed out, were raised for national as well
as for local objects, and benefited the whole community and
not merely the owners and occupiers of real property. Now
that the State had withdrawn protection from the landed
1872-1873] RATING REFORM 201
interest, they had a right, he had argued, to have this in-
justice redressed. The argument impressed the House at
the time, and the majorities against Disraeli's motions be-
came smaller with succeeding years. But little or nothing
had been actually done in this direction in Parliaments
where Disraeli never had a majority; and fresh charges
had been constantly put upon the rates, while the actual
administration was largely withdrawn from local control.
Sir Massey Lopes, a substantial county member who had
made a special study of the question, carried this session
against the Government, by a majority of no less than a
hundred, a motion that 2,000,000 worth of these charges,
dealing with the administration of justice, police, and luna-
tics, should be placed on the Consolidated Fund. Disraeli
strongly urged that the reform was five and twenty years
overdue, while the burdens on real property had greatly
increased, and, with the urgent claims of public education
and public health, must increase still further. In spite of
the adverse vote, the Government shirked their respon-
sibility; accordingly, the relief which Disraeli had pleaded
for in his first days of leadership he was himself to be the
Minister to grant.
The Government were damaged less by their defeat on
Lopes's motion than by their success in carrying a much-
needed measure, the Licensing Act, which irritated a power-
ful trade and interfered with the habits of countless in-
dividuals. Their unpopularity was increased in the autumn
by the blow to British pride involved in the swingeing
damages awarded to the United States by the Geneva arbi-
trators in respect of the Alabama dispute. The loss of
Ministerial seats at by-elections continued. Consequently,
though Disraeli, absorbed by domestic sorrow, 1 did not
resume his pungent attacks between the close of the 1872
session and the opening of the next, Ministers met Parlia-
ment in February, 1873, with a tarnished reputation and
clouded prospects, and promptly received a stunning blow
i See below, ch. 6.
202 THE TURN OF THE TIDE [CHAP, v
from which they never properly recovered. The task be-
fore them in the session was obviously a perilous one.
Gladstone, who had already carried, with the full force of
an unimpaired majority, two great Irish Bills, was about
to venture, with his majority much less under control, on
a third. This time he was to deal with that University
question which his rival had in hand when he himself
overtrumped him with disestablishment. Once again Man-
ning was deep in the counsels of a British Premier hopeful
of finding a solution; and he was to mislead Gladstone as
he had misled Disraeli. Disraeli's letters show us the hopes
and fears of the Opposition.
To Montagu Corry.
H. OF 0., Feb. 10, '73. Lord Derby on Saturday seemed to
think a crisis was at hand, and rather regretted going away
(which, by tbe bye, Cairns is also doing). D. said 'You can
telegraph for me.' . . .
Feb. 11. I wrote you a wretched scrawl yesterday from H. of
C. in a miserable state, and am not much better to-day.
From wbat I gathered from Robert Montagu, coached by
Manning, I should think Gladstone's scheme will do. I infer
something like this. Trinity Coll. to be no longer a University,
but to retain a considerable endowment. The Romans not to
be endowed. Tbe Peel Colleges to be abolished. An Examining
Board a /2 Catholic and l /z Protestant; but Cath. under-grads.
to be examined only on those subjects and in that manner the
priesthood approves and, of course, by the Cath. moiety of ex-
aminers.
They say G. is to make the greatest speech to-morrow he has
yet accomplished. . . .
Feb. 15. I have been in a state of coma for the last few days
and bave been unable to write. Indeed, it is only tbe recol-
lection that it is Saturday, which forces me to this feebleness.
Everything seems to have calmed down again, and I see no move-
ment for the next fortnight. . . .
I conclude there will be no attempt to oppose the 2nd reading
of the Bill, tbougb there will be a considerable debate tbereon:
and in Committee, though nothing ever succeeds in Committee,
tbere will be an effort to establish the Professorships of Philoso-
phy and History, and perhaps to reconstruct the Governing
Council. .
1873] IRISH UNIVERSITY BILL 203
Feb. 18. There is to be a council at my rooms on Saturday
re Ir. Univ. Bill. . . .
Feb. 22. We had our meeting this morning ; it was very long
and very troublesome. We came to a conclusion, as a Home
Ruler has given notice of opposing 2nd reading, to encourage
and carry on a great debate for three nights, if possible, and,
in th.? course of it, to announce, that we should move resolutions
on going into Committee.
I should not be surprised if Fawcett gives notice of resolu-
tions at once in much the same spirit, speculating on the Home
Ruler relinquishing his purpose. . . .
Feb. 25. . . . There is a feeling in the air, that the 3rd branch
of tKe Upas-tree will still blast Celtic society. As Ball says,
if the Bill is got rid of, no party in the country, and neither side
of the House, will ever hear of the question again: for, in fact,
it is all humbug. . . .
12, GEORGE ST., Feb. 27. I had an interesting letter from Lord
Derby yesterday, anxious about the Irish Bill, and impressing
upon me, that, if wanted, he could be here in 4 and 20 hours.
He dined with Thiers, whom he found very old, feeble, with a
cracked voice, but warming up into animation as he talked on;
never alluding even to domestic affairs, but expatiating on every
point of foreign. . . . He seemed to think dissensions must soon
break out between Prussia and Bavaria, and repeatedly said that
the first and, indeed, only object for France was the reorganisa-
tion of her army : ' not that we wanted war, etc., but nobody
knew what might happen, and we must be prepared.' . . .
I am now going down to the House, walking; as the air is
clear and the wind westerly. . . .
March 1. . . . There is no news, except a general impression
that Gladstone will withdraw his Bill. So Lord Stanhope told
me this morning at British Museum: but I doubt it. He will
not like losing the opportunity of self-vindication in many
speeches.
To Gathorne Hardy.
Saturday, March 8, 1873. I thought your speech excellent,
and so, I observe, does the Spectator to-day; no mean Parlia-
mentary critic.
It was a hard trial to get up at midnight, as I know from
experience but all the things you omitted to say will come into
another speech, and had you not demonstrated, the effect wd.
have been most injurious.
I was very glad that you alluded to a Gladstone dissolution
204 THE TURN OF THE TIDE [CHAP, v
as ultimately inevitable, and that you spoke out to Knightley. 1
He belongs to a clique, who think we have no single object in
the world but place and patronage; little suspecting, that for
four years we have, for the sake of the country, and especially
for the Tory party, unceasingly labored to prevent a premature
change.
The fever of my attack seems to have subsided, but I am very
feeble.
As the letters suggest, Gladstone's scheme sounded very
plausible when set forth by himself in one of those exegetical
discourses in which no other Parliamentarian could compare
with him; but it would not stand critical examination.
Protestant feeling was offended by the constitution of the
governing body of the new University, which was such that,
in Lord Morley's euphemistic words, ' it did not make
clerical predominance ultimately impossible.' In spite of
this prospect, the Irish Bishops were offended by the main-
tenance of the principle of mixed education, in which
Protestant colleges and students were to stand side by side
with Roman Catholic colleges and students ; and ultimately
Cardinal Cullen refused and denounced the offer. Those
who realised what a University meant and cared for the
interests of higher education, of whom Fawcett was the
i Sir Rainald Knightley (afterwards Lord Knightley), of Fawsley,
M.P. for South Northants, a squire of long descent, high honour, many
prejudices, and some Parliamentary capacity, was an irreconcilable
member of the anti-Disraeli Tory clique, and only supported the Oppo-
sition leaders by his vote on this occasion because he was satisfied
from Hardy's speech and conversation that they would not take office
till after a dissolution. A story which Lady Knightley tells, in her
Journals, p. 240, of the origin of her husband's feeling towards Dis-
raeli, suggests that a plentiful lack of humour had much to do with
Tory mistrust of their witty and sardonic chief. ' I asked Rainald
to-day,' writes Lady Knightley on March 15, 1873, ' when he first began
to distrust [Disraeli]. He said, "Very soon after I came into Par-
liament, I was desired by the Whip to do all I could to get our men
to vote against the Government on some question not a very im-
portant one on which they seemed to me to be in the right. How-
ever, I trusted our leader, and thought he probably knew more about
it than I did, so I did as I was bid. When we got into the lobby, we
found ourselves in a minority, upon which Disraeli said, 'There!
we've sacrificed our characters, and voted wrong, and haven't beat the
Government after all ! ' " Comment, I think,' adds Lady Knightley,
' is superfluous.' It is indeed.
1873] DISRAELI'S SPEECH 205
most prominent representative, were disgusted by the pro-
hibition of any University teacher in theology, modern
history, or mental and moral philosophy ; and by the liability
of all teachers to suspension or deprivation for giving offence
to religious convictions. The impracticability of the scheme
as it stood was so patent that Ministers were reduced to
endeavouring to obtain support by suggesting that large
amendments could be made in Committee, and by dwelling
on the threat that they would treat the second reading as a
vital matter.
Disraeli in his speech on the last night of the debate
declined to put any confidence in these unconfirmed hints
of Committee amendments, and protested against the threat
of resignation. No one wished to disturb Gladstone in his
place, but it was the duty of members to say distinctly
whether they could approve this particular measure. It
proposed to found a University which was not universal, and
in an age when young men prattled about protoplasm and
young ladies in gilded saloons unconsciously talked atheism,
to prohibit the teaching of philosophy! He chaffed Glad-
stone about the ' anonymous persons ' who were to consti-
tute the council of the new University. He vindicated his
own policy of concurrent endowment in 1868, a policy which
had been steadily pursued by statesmen of all parties down
to that date, but had then been killed by Gladstone. ' The
right hon. gentleman says I burnt my fingers on that occa-
sion, but,' said Disraeli, holding out his hands across the
floor of the House amid general amusement, ' I see no scars.'
He continued :
The right hon. gentleman, suddenly I impute no motive,
that is quite unnecessary changed his mind, and threw over
the policy of concurrent endowment, mistaking the clamour of
the Nonconformists 1 for the voice of the nation. The Roman
Catholics fell into the trap. They forgot the cause of Univer-
sity education in the prospect of destroying the Protestant
Church. The right hon. gentleman succeeded in his object. He
i Another reading has ' the Nonconformist ' the newspaper organ
of the Dissenters.
206 THE TURN OF THE TIDE [CHAP, v
became Prime Minister of England. . . . The Roman Catholics
had the satisfaction of destroying the Protestant Church of
disestablishing the Protestant Church. They had the satisfac-
tion before the year was over of witnessing the disestablishment
of the Roman Catholic Church at Rome. As certain as that
we are in this House, the policy that caused the one led to the
other. . . . The Roman Catholics, having reduced Ireland to
a spiritual desert, are discontented and have a grievance; and
they come to Parliament in order that it may create for them a
blooming Garden of Eden.
And then Disraeli proceeded to one of those attacks on
the general tendency of Gladstonian policy which were be-
ginning to sink deeply into the national mind. Gladstone,
he said, had substituted a policy of confiscation for the
policy of concurrent endowment :
You have had four years of it. You have despoiled churches.
You have threatened every corporation and endowment in the
country. You have examined into everybody's affairs. You
have criticised every profession and vexed every trade. No one
is certain of his property and nobody knows what duties he may
have to perform to-morrow.
Gladstone, in reply, urged Parliament to go on in its
work of bringing justice to Ireland in spite of the perverse-
ness of those whom it was attempting to assist; but the
House realised the absurdity of proceeding with proposals
repudiated by Catholics as well as by Protestants. The
division was taken after two o'clock on the morning of
Wednesday, March 12. Ministers were beaten by 3 votes,
the numbers being 287 to 284. They had a small majority
among the English members, and a large majority among
the Scotch; but the Irish voted 68 to 15 against them.
1 The Irish Romans,' wrote Hardy in his diary, ' voted
against Gladstone in a body, but it was utterly wrong of
Gladstone to taunt us, for our opposition long preceded
theirs, and there was no compact whatever. And now
what will follow? I doubt not Gladstone will try to force
us in, but in vain. It is neither our duty nor our interest
to dissolve Parliament for him ? and I cannot admit the
1873] GLADSTONE RESIGNS 207
right of any Government to make any question they please
vital, and, if a combination negatives, to force upon one
portion of it all the responsibility.'
Hardy's opinion, thus recorded decisively at the first
moment in his diary, was the one which prevailed with
Disraeli and his colleagues. In truth the situation had
been anticipated; and, though two of Disraeli's most im-
portant colleagues, Derby and Cairns, were abroad, he had
ascertained from them before they went their unwillingness
to accept office in the event of such a contingency as had
occurred. The Beaconsfield papers contain the following
scrap in Derby's handwriting:
If it is only contended that Mr. D. before announcing his
decision, ought to have maturely considered the circumstances
and consulted with his friends, the answer is that he had done
so already in anticipation of what for the last six weeks was a
possible and not improbable contingency.
Hardy and Richmond went to see their chief on the
morrow of the division, and there was an agreement between
them all in this sense, though apparently Disraeli's Socratic
method suggested to Hardy that he had a doubt on the
subject. The upshot of the talk of the three colleagues was
that the impracticability of office was so clear that Disraeli
might decline without further consultation.
Meanwhile there was some hesitation in the Ministerial
camp, and it required a couple of Cabinet Councils, one
on the Wednesday and one on the Thursday, to bring them
to resignation.
To Lord Beauchamp.
Thursday, March 13. I have had a good nigbt, except dis-
turbed too much by my cough, which must be again attended to.
I neglected remedies in the anarchy of yesterday.
What is going to take place? And what is the 2nd Cabinet
about? Our friend cannot even resign in the usual manner, I
was in hopes yesterday that the Q. had not accepted his resigna-
tion as in my case, which would have solved many knots, and
that we should have an early dissolution on his part; but the
ambiguous voices of the oracles this morning perplex me.
208 THE TURN OF THE TIDE [CHAP, v
The second Cabinet, however, decided for resignation ;
Gladstone saw the Queen in the early afternoon of the
Thursday, and announced the fact in Parliament at 4.30.
Disraeli was stopped in the lobby, as he was entering the
House of Commons, by a message from the Palace.
From Queen Victoria.
BUCKINGHAM PALACE, March 13, 1873. Mr. Gladstone has
just been here and has tendered his resignation and that of all
his colleagues in consequence of the vote of the House of Com-
mons on Tuesday night which the Queen has accepted. She
therefore writes to Mr. Disraeli to ask him whether he will
undertake to form a Government.
The Queen would like to see Mr. Disraeli at 6 or as soon
after as possible.
She sends this letter by her private secretary, Colonel Pon-
sonby, who can be the bearer of any written or verbal answer
from Mr. Disraeli.
The Queen herself drew up a memorandum to describe
what passed at the audience which followed.
Memorandum by Queen Victoria.
BUCKINGHAM PALACE, March 13, 1873. Mr. Disraeli came at
a little after 6. After expressing my feeling for him in his
sorrow and shaking hands with him, I said I had sent for him
in consequence of last night's vote; and he asked whether I
wished him to give a categorical answer, or to say a few words
on the present state of affairs. I said I should willingly hear
what he had to say.
He then went on to say that he had not expected the vote;
he had thought, after Mr. Cardwell's speech, the Government
would have a majority. That the Conservative party never
was more compact or more united; that there was the most
perfect understanding between him and all those who had served
with him, and especially named Ld. Derby, Ld. Cairns, Mr.
Hardy, and Sir S. Northcote. That he was perfectly able to
form a Government at once, perfectly fit to carry on the adminis-
tration of the country to my entire satisfaction ; that he could
command 280 votes ; that since, as he said, ' I had left your
Majesty's immediate service, for I never consider myself out
of your Majesty's service,' the party had gained considerably,
about thirty seats; that he had laboured to keep the party as
1873] DISRAELI DECLINES OFFICE 209
much together and in as efficient a state as possible; but that it
would be useless to attempt to carry on the Government with a
minority in the House of Commons, and that he must therefore
state his inability to undertake to form a Government in the
present Parliament.
What was then to be done ? I asked. ' Mr. Gladstone ought
to remain in and continue to carry on the Government.' This,
I said, I thought he very likely would object to, having declared
his views so strongly on this measure. This was a mistake, Mr.
Disraeli replied, and he ought never to have done so. That
might be so or not, I said, but anyhow Mr. Gladstone did feel
this, and did not ask for a dissolution, therefore I thought it
doubtful whether he would consent to resume or continue in
office, feeling he could not submit to this vote. ' But he has
condoned for it by his resignation and readiness to give up
power,' was the answer ; that he should not throw up office merely
for this vote ; it would not be a good return to the present Parlia-
ment, which had supported him so warmly, and in which he had
carried 3 great measures, for so he must call them, though he
might not agree with them. I again asked him what I was to
say to Mr. Gladstone, and he repeated that ' I decline to form a
Government in the present Parliament, and I do not ask for a
dissolution.'
Of course, he said, there were instances where a Sovereign
had been left without a Government, and in such a case he
would, of course, be ready to serve me. I said that I would
at once let Mr. Gladstone know, but that I might have to call
upon him again.
Disraeli, in giving Hardy afterwards an account of his
audience, added that the Queen's ' cordiality was marked/
and that ' she manifested, as he thought, a repugnance
to her present Government.' To Beauchamp he wrote:
' I had a more than gracious reception ; and, if Her Majesty
were leader of the Opposition, I believe this morning she
would be First Lord of her own Treasury.' The Queen
at once sent Ponsonby to Gladstone with an account of what
had passed, adding, ' She considers this as sending for you
anew/ But Gladstone suspected a trick and told Ponsonby
that he ' thought Mr. Disraeli was endeavouring, by at
once throwing back on me an offer which it was impossible
for me at the time and under the circumstances to accept,
210 THE TURN OF THE TIDE [CHAP, v
to get up a case of absolute necessity founded upon this
refusal of mine, and thus, becoming the indispensable man
and party, to have in his hands a lever wherewith to over-
come the reluctance and resistance of his friends, who would
not be able to deny that the Queen must have a Govern-
ment.' To Gladstone Disraeli was the wily mystery-man,
and the simple reasoning which had led his rival to decline
did not appear at all adequate to one who was determined
to find some deep calculation in all that rival did. Accord-
ingly, Gladstone asked, through Ponsonby, that Disraeli's
reply might be put in writing.
Memorandum in Colonel Ponsonby's Handwriting.
March 13, 1873. Colonel Ponsonby called on Mr. Disraeli
in the evening with a message from the Queen, asking him to
give Her Majesty, in writing, the substance of his conversation
with the Queen.
Mr. Disraeli willingly complied with Her Majesty's wishes,
and wrote down roughly the chief points on which he had spoken.
Colonel Ponsonby asked Mr. Disraeli if he might assume that
this meant an unconditional refusal. Mr. Disraeli replied that
such was the meaning in the present state of affairs.
Colonel Ponsonby asked, if the Queen was ready to sanction
a dissolution as soon as possible, whether Mr. Disraeli could
then accept office, taking, of course, the responsibility of giving
the advice to Her Majesty to dissolve.
Mr. Disraeli replied that he could not accept office with such
an understanding, and that his refusal was absolute.
He hoped in some future day, when another Parliament
assembled, to find an opportunity of serving the Queen, but
with the present House of Commons with a large majority
opposed to him, he could not undertake the Government.
Such was the official report, certified by Disraeli to be
correct, which Ponsonby made to the Queen. But Pon-
sonby drew up a longer and more detailed account of what
took place, which shows more clearly Disraeli's position,
while it also amusingly brings out the secretary's Whig dis-
trust of the Tory leader. 1
i Disraeli, subsequently, during his great Ministry, bore striking
testimony to the absolute impartiality with which Ponsonby carried
1873] PONSONBY'S VISIT TO DISRAELI 211
Her Majesty sent me to see Mr. Disraeli in Edwards's Hotel,
George Street, Hanover Square. 1 He at once acceded to the
Queen's wish, and getting pens and ink said, ' There, let me
see, I can easily put down what is wanted; that is very nearly
what I said.' I observed that I did not quite understand it,
and hoped he would forgive me if I asked him whether he meant
it as a refusal to take office while this Parliament sat, or whether
he refused entirely, whether the Queen consented to dissolve
or not. He said he meant it as a refusal, that he could not
carry on the Government in a Parliament where there were 80
votes of majority against him. ' But,' I said, ' would you take
office and dissolve ? ' He said, ' I thought the Queen would not
agree to this.' I replied I thought she would not object, in fact,
I felt certain she would not. ' But,' he said, ' there is an idea
that this, being my Parliament, cannot be dissolved by me.'
' But,' I remarked, ' the Queen could offer you a dissolution,
though, of course, you would be responsible for advising her to
do so.' ' Of course,' he said, ' I well understand that ; but I
decline altogether to accept office.'
He went on, ' How could I proceed ? For two months at least
Parliament must continue, while the regular estimates, Mutiny
Act, etc., are passed. The Conservatives are gaining favour in
the country, but these two months would ruin them. They
would be exposed in a hostile House to every insult which the
Opposition might choose to fling at them, and the party would
be seriously damaged, while the business of the country would
suffer. The only possibility of carrying any measure would be
by allying myself to the Irish lot, whom I detest and disagree
with, and who would throw me over whenever it suited their
purpose.' I said, ' You have defeated the Government ; ought
you not therefore to undertake the responsibility of forming
one?' 'No,' he replied; 'we did not defeat the Government.
We threw out a stupid, blundering Bill, which Gladstone, in his
tete montee way, tried to make a vote of confidence. It was a
foolish mistake of his ; but he has condoned for it by resigning.
He can now resume office with perfect freedom.'
out his duties as private secretary to the Queen. He said to a political
friend : ' I believe that General Ponsonby used to be a Whig, but,
whatever his politics may once have been, I can only say that I could
not wish my case better stated to the Queen than the private secretary
does it. Perhaps I am a gainer by his Whiggishness, as it makes him
more scrupulously on his guard to be always absolutely fair and lucid,'
See article on 'The Character of Queen Victoria,' Quarterly Review,
April, 1901.
i See below, p. 233.
212 THE TURN OF THE TIDE [CHAP, v
During the first part of the interview Disraeli sat at a table,
and as he spoke with eagerness, there was something in his
over-civil expressions about the Queen or ' my dear Colonel/
which made me think he was playing with me, and I felt once
or twice a difficulty in not laughing; but when he developed
the reasons of his policy he rose and stood much more upright
than I have ever seen him, spoke in a most frank and straight-
forward manner, and with a sharpness and decision which was
different from his early words. Yet probably he had measured
the length of my foot, and had been more sincere and honest in
his message to the Queen than when he made me believe in his
frank exposition of policy.
He was far easier to speak to than Gladstone, who forces
you into his groove, while Disraeli apparently follows yours
and is genial, almost too genial, in his sentiments. . . .
In accordance with Her Majesty's desire, Disraeli em-
bodied in a couple of sentences the reply which, he had al-
ready given :
In answer to the gracious inquiry, whether he would under-
take to form a Government, Mr. Disraeli said he was prepared
to form an Administration which he believed would carry on
Her Majesty's affairs with efficiency, and would possess her
confidence, but he could not undertake to carry on Her Majesty's
Government in the present House of Commons.
Subsequently, Her Majesty having remarked that Mr. Glad-
stone was not inclined to recommend a dissolution of Parlia-
ment, Mr. Disraeli stated, that he himself would not advise Her
Majesty to take that step.
The language was perhaps not as categorical as it might
have been, and Gladstone's ingenious mind found a dis-
crepancy between the two sentences, which led him on the
Friday to make a further inquiry of the Queen. To Her
Majesty's common sense it was clear that, if Disraeli would
neither take office in the existing Parliament nor advise
a dissolution, his attitude amounted as Pbnsonby put it in
his memorandum, to an ' absolute refusal ' ; and she ac-
cordingly answered that Disraeli had unconditionally de-
clined to form a Government. After such a reply, it might
1873] THE QUEEN AND THE RIVALS 213
have been thought that a Minister who still possessed for
the ordinary purposes of government a majority of eighty
or ninety would have considered the immediate resumption
of office, with or without the intention of an early dissolu-
tion, to be his obvious duty. But Gladstone, indignant at
Disraeli's avoidance of responsibility, embarrassed the
Queen by discovering an alternative course the drafting
of a detailed memorandum to show that Disraeli's action
was neither justifiable in itself nor in accordance with
precedent. He urged that the proceeding between the
Queen and Disraeli could not be regarded as complete, as
the vote had been the result of concerted action by the Op-
position on a matter declared to be vital by Ministers;
and therefore Disraeli ought by counsel and inquiry among
his friends to have exhausted all practicable means to form
a Government. He recited the history of previous Par-
liamentary crises to show that there was no precedent for
Disraeli's summary refusal. He could not call his col-
leagues together and ask them to resume their offices were
he not able ' to prove to them that according to usage
every means had been exhausted on the part of the Opposi-
tion f9r providing for the government of the country, or at
least that nothing more was to be expected from that
quarter.' 1
It was a lame conclusion. Gladstone had already been
told that nothing more was to be expected from that quarter.
The Queen felt this strongly, when the memorandum was
presented to her on the Saturday. But as her constitu-
tional duty was to obtain a Government, and as it was
plain that the only way in which this could be done was to
persuade Gladstone to return, she consented to humour
him so far as to become the medium of communication for
the rival leaders. Her secretary put on paper an explana-
tion of her views.
iThe text is given in Lord Motley's Gladstone, Book VI., ch. 12,
where the crisis is narrated and examined at length.
214 THE TURN OF THE TIDE [OHAP. v
Memorandum in Colonel Ponsoriby's Handwriting.
BUCKINGHAM PALACE, March 15. The unusual course fol-
lowed by Mr. Gladstone of asking the Queen for further explana-
tions before he could call the Cabinet together, made it neces-
sary for Her Majesty to consider how she could meet his request.
The Queen could not refuse to take any notice of it, as this
would have retarded the progress of the negotiations which Her
Majesty was anxious to bring to a satisfactory termination.
Besides which, Her Majesty desired there should be no mis-
understanding.
The Queen could not assure Mr. Gladstone that Mr. Disraeli's
refusal to accept office was complete, as Her Majesty would then
have undertaken the responsibility of answering for the Opposi-
tion party.
The Queen could not herself have called on Mr. Disraeli for
further explanations, as Her Majesty would then have assumed
the view taken by Mr. Gladstone of Mr. Disraeli's conduct.
The Queen therefore, with Mr. Gladstone's knowledge and
consent, forwarded his letter entire to Mr. Disraeli.
From Queen Victoria.
BUCKINGHAM PALACE, March 15, '73. The Queen communi-
cated, as Mr. Disraeli is aware, the substance of his refusal to
undertake to form a Government in the present Parliament, to
Mr. Gladstone, and she thinks it due to Mr. Disraeli to send him
the accompanying letter (with Mr. Gladstone's knowledge), and
will be glad to receive a reply from Mr. Disraeli which she can
show Mr. Gladstone.
The Queen allows this communication to be made through
her in order to prevent as much as possible any misunderstand-
ing.
On receipt of this letter on Saturday afternoon, Disraeli
told Ponsonby that he could easily write a short reply at
once, but he ' felt sure it would meet with your Majesty's
wishes and his own inclinations if he consulted Lord Derby
and other members of his party before writing to your
Majesty.' Derby had returned on the Friday, but Cairns
remained abroad. Disraeli's memorandum was not ready
till the middle of Sunday, and he sent it down in tbe after-
noon to the Queen, who had retired to Windsor.
1873] DISKAELI'S EXPLANATION 215
To Queen Victoria.
GEORGE STREET, HANOVER SQUARE, March 16, 1873. Mr. Dis-
raeli with his humble duty to your Majesty.
He thanks your Majesty for communicating to him Mr. Glad-
stone's letter, with Mr. Gladstone's knowledge.
He is grateful to your Majesty for deigning to allow these
communications to be made through your Majesty, and humbly
agrees with your Majesty that it is a mode which may tend to
prevent misunderstanding.
The observations of Mr. Gladstone, generally considered, may
be ranged under two heads: an impeachment of the conduct of
the Opposition in contributing to the vote against the Govern-
ment measure, when they were not prepared, in the event of
success, to take office; and a charge against the Leader of the
Opposition, that, when honored by the commands of your
Majesty, he gave a ' summary refusal ' to undertake your Ma-
jesty's Government, without exhausting all practicable means
of aiding the country in its exigency.
The argument of Mr. Gladstone, in the first instance, is that
the Opposition, having, by ' deliberate and concerted action,'
thrown out a Bill, which the Government had declared to be
' vital to their existence,' is bound to use all means to form a
Government of .its own, in order to replace that which it must be
held to have intentionally overthrown.
It is humbly submitted to your Majesty, that though, as a
general rule, this doctrine may be sound, it cannot be laid down
unconditionally, nor otherwise than subject to many exceptions.
It is undoubtedly sound so far as this : that for an Opposition
to use its strength for the express purpose of throwing out a
Government, which it is at the time aware that it cannot replace
having that object in view, and no other would be an act
of recklessness and faction, which could not be too strongly
condemned. But it may be safely affirmed that no conduct of
this kind can be imputed to the Conservative Opposition of 1873.
If the doctrine in question is carried further; if it be con-
tended that, whenever, from any circumstances, a Minister is so
situated that it is in his power to prevent any other Parlia-
mentary leader from forming an Administration which is likely
to stand, he acquires, thereby, the right to call upon Parlia-
ment to pass whatever measures he and his colleagues think fit,
and is entitled to denounce as factious the resistance to such
measures then the claim is one not warranted by usage, or
reconcilable with the freedom of the Legislature.
216 THE TURN OF THE TIDE [CHAP, v
It amounts to this: that he tells the House of Commons,
' Unless you are prepared to put some one in my place, your
duty is to do whatever I bid you.'
To no House of Commons has language of this kind ever been
addressed : by no House of Commons would it be tolerated.
In the present instance, the Bill which has been the cause
of the crisis, was, from the first, strongly objected to by a large
section of the Liberal party, and that on the same grounds which
led the Conservative Opposition to resist it, namely, that it
seemed calculated to sacrifice the interests of Irish education
to those of the Roman Catholic hierarchy.
A protracted discussion strengthened the general feeling of
the House of Commons as to the defects of the measure: the
party whom it was, apparently, intended to propitiate, rejected it
as inadequate; and, probably, if the sense of the House had been
taken on the Bill, irrespective of considerations as to the political
result of the division, not one-fourth of the House would have
voted for it. From first to last, it was unpopular, both inside
and outside Parliament, and was disliked quite as much by
Liberals as by Conservatives.
It is humbly submitted to your Majesty that no Minister has
a right to say to Parliament, ' You must take such a Bill,
whether you think it a good one or not, because, without passing
it, I will not hold office, and my numerical strength in the present
House is too great to allow of any other effective Administration
being formed.'
The charge against the Leader of the Opposition personally,
that, by his ' summary refusal ' to undertake your Majesty's Gov-
ernment, he was failing in his duty to your Majesty and the
country, is founded altogether on a gratuitous assumption by
Mr. Gladstone, which pervades his letter, that the means of Mr.
Disraeli to carry on the Government were not ' exhausted.' A
brief statement of facts will at once dispose of this charge.
Before Mr. Disraeli, with due deference, offered his decision
to your Majesty, he had enjoyed the opportunity of consulting
those gentlemen, with whom he acts in public life; and they
were unanimously of opinion, that it would be prejudicial to
the interests of the country for a Conservative Administration to
attempt to conduct your Majesty's affairs, in the present House
of Commons. What other means were at Mr. Disraeli's dis-
posal? Was he to open negotiations with a section of the late
Ministry, and waste days in barren interviews, vain applications,
and the device of impossible combinations? Was he to make
overtures to the considerable section of the Liberal party who
1873] GLADSTONE RESUMES OFFICE 217
had voted against the Government, namely, the Irish Roman
Catholic gentlemen? Surely Mr. Gladstone is not serious in
such a suggestion. Impressed by experience, obtained in those
very instances to which Mr. Gladstone refers, of the detrimental
influence upon Government of a ' crisis ' unnecessarily prolonged
by hollow negotiations, Mr. Disraeli humbly conceived that he
was taking a course at once advantageous to the public interests
and tending to spare your Majesty unnecessary anxiety, by at
once laying before your Majesty the real position of affairs.
There are many observations in Mr. Gladstone's letter which
Mr. Disraeli, for convenience, refrains from noticing. Some
of them are involved in an ambiguity not easy to encounter in
a brief space: some of them, with reference to Mr. Disraeli's
conduct in the House of Commons, Mr. Disraeli would fain hope
are not entirely divested of some degree of exaggeration. ' The
deliberate and concerted action of the Opposition ' would sub-
side, Mr. Disraeli believes, on impartial investigation, into the
exercise of that ordinary, and even daily, discipline of a political
party, without which a popular assembly would soon degenerate
into a mob, and become divested of all practical influence. In
the present instance, Mr. Disraeli believes he is correct in affirm-
ing, that his friends were not even formally summoned to vote
against the Government measure, but to support an amendment
by an honorable gentleman, which was seconded from the Liberal
benches, and which could only by a violent abuse of terms be
described as a party move.
Then, again, much is made of the circumstance that the exist-
ence of the Government was staked on this measure. Mr. Dis-
raeli has already treated of this subject generally. But what are
the particular facts? No doubt, more than a month ago, the
Prime Minister, in a devoted House of Commons, had, in an
unusual, not to say unprecedented, manner, commenced his ex-
position of an abstruse measure by stating that the existence of
the Government was staked on its success. But inasmuch as,
in the course of time, it was understood that the Government
were prepared to modify, or even to withdraw, most of the
clauses of this ir.?0sure, these words were forgotten or condoned,
and could not be seriously held as exercising a practical in-
fluence on the ultimate decision.
From Queen Victoria.
WINDSOR CASTLE, March 16, 1873. The Queen thanks Mr.
Disraeli for his letter. She has sent it to Mr. Gladstone, and
asked him whether he will undertake to resume office.
218 THE TURN OF THE TIDE [CHAP, v
Gladstone was at last convinced, to use his own language,
that no ' further effort ' was to be expected from the Op-
position ' towards meeting the present necessity.' He and
his colleagues accordingly resumed their offices. But in
writing to the Queen he recognised that the political posi-
tion had been ' seriously unhinged by the shock,' and that
neither the Administration nor the Parliament could again
be what they were ; and he did not disguise in his explana-
tion to Parliament the damage that had been sustained,
and the disadvantages necessarily attaching to a returning
or resuming Government.
The best opinion, both of the public and of the Conserva-
tive party, approved of Disraeli's decision. The Times
had advised that course throughout. Its editor's view was
sent to Disraeli by Lennox.
\ I
From Lord Henry Lennox.
Private. 19, GROSVENOR GARDENS, S.W., March 16, 1873.
Delane dined -with me last evening, and I cannot forbear letting
you know what he said.
First, that you now stand in the highest position in which
any statesman has stood for many years past; that you had by
your decision given proof of the very highest order of states-
manship, both unselfish and patriotic; that he is convinced your
statement of to-morrow will produce the very best effect through-
out the country, and will earn for you the gratitude of your
followers and the respect and admiration of your opponents;
and lastly that in this matter you have displayed a judgment
and a spirit of which Gladstone would be utterly incapable.
I need not tell you with what pleasure I heard his remarks,
especially as they were made in presence of the P. of Wales,
the Duke of Edinburgh, and many others.
-C/'
So strong a party man and competent a manager as Lord
Abergavenny held that ' Dizzy has acted most wisely in re-
fusing to form a Government.' But there was of course a
disappointed section of the party, who clamoured for the
bold policy of forcing a dissolution and forming a Govern-
ment, and maintained that any hesitation to seize the helm
would have as discouraging and dispiriting an effect as
1873] GOVERNMENT WITH A MINORITY 219
Derby's refusal in 1855. It was mainly to the satisfaction
of these impatient partisans that Disraeli addressed himself
in his Parliamentary explanation on March 30. Some parts
of an unnecessarily elaborate speech were not very happy;
and Hardy rightly criticised his chief's remarks about the
impossibility of a matured and complete policy in opposi-
tion. But there was a large amount of necessary financial
and other business which a new Government would have
had to get through before the session could be wound up
and dissolution accomplished, and there was no answer to
the passage in which Disraeli pointed out what would dur-
ing the intervening period be the certain lot of an Admin-
istration with a majority of ninety against them.
I know well and those who are around me know well
what will occur when a Ministry takes office and attempts to
carry on the Government with a minority during the session,
with a view of ultimately appealing to the people. We should
have what is called ' fair play.' That is to say, no vote of want
of confidence would be proposed, and chiefly because it would
be of no use. There would be no wholesale censure, but retail
humiliation. A right hon. gentleman will come down here, he
will arrange his thumbscrews and other instruments of torture
on this table. We shall never ask for a vote without a lecture;
we shall never perform the most ordinary routine office of Gov-
ernment without there being annexed to it some pedantic and
ignominious condition. ... In a certain time we should enter
into the paradise of abstract resolutions. One day hon. gentle-
men cannot withstand the golden opportunity of asking the
House to affirm that the income tax should no longer form one
of the features of our Ways and Means. Of course a proposition
of that kind would be scouted by the right hon. gentleman and
all his colleagues; but, then, they might dine out that day, and
the Resolution might be carried, as Resolutions of that kind
have been. Then another hon. gentleman, distinguished for his
knowledge of men and things, would move that the diplomatic
service be abolished. While hon. gentlemen opposite were laugh-
ing in their sleeves at the mover, they would vote for the motion
in order to put the Government into a minority. For this reason.
' Why should men,' they would say, ' govern the country who are
in a minority ? ' totally forgetting that we had acceded to office
in the spirit of the Constitution, quite oblivious of the fountain
220 THE TURN OF THE TIDE [CHAP, v
and origin of the position we occupied. And it would go very
hard if on some sultry afternoon, some hon. member should not
' rush in where angels fear to tread,' and successfully assimilate
the borough and the county franchise. And so things would
go on until the bitter end until at last even the Appropriation
Bill has passed, Parliament is dissolved, and we appeal to those
millions, who, perhaps, six months before, might have looked
upon us as the vindicators of intolerable grievances, but who
now receive us as a defeated, discredited, and degraded ministry,
whose services can neither be of value to the Crown nor a credit
to the nation.
The Tory party, Disraeli maintained, occupied a most
satisfactory position. It had divested itself of excrescences
and emerged from the fiscal period. In order to deal with
the more fundamental questions which were rapidly coming
to the front, it was of the utmost importance that there
should be ( a great Constitutional party, distinguished for
its intelligence as well as for its organisation, which shall
be competent to lead the people and direct the public mind.'
That there might be no obstacle to its future triumph, he,
as the trustee of its honour and interests, declined to form a
weak and discredited Administration.
To the Duke of Richmond.
Friday, March 21, 1873. I thought what you said was most
judicious and a propos, and will have a good effect, and encourage
the country. You spoke too highly of your colleague and corre-
spondent, but it proved our union; and I must try to deserve
your praise.
I don't think the Prime Minister greatly distinguished him-
self in our House.
We shall all of us be glad to see Cairns again. How much
has happened in his absence, and ripe, I think, with the seeds
of the future.
The seeds of the future were indeed germinating. To
an Opposition which, little more than a year before, was
discredited, discontented, factious, and hopeless, Disraeli
had given organisation, policy, popular respect, the assur-
ance of high and unselfish leadership, and the expectation
of early and definitive success.
CHAPTER VI
BEREAVEMENT
1872-1873
While Disraeli's political prospects grew daily brighter,
a heavy cloud fell upon his domestic life. After thirty-
three years of unbroken happiness and affection, he lost
the wife who was in very deed his chosen helpmate, 1 to
whom he attributed, in a speech at Edinburgh in 1867, all
the successes of his life, ' because she has supported me by
her counsel and consoled me by the sweetness of her mind
and disposition.' The world might laugh at her queer-
nesses and gaucheries, which became more marked with
age ; might find it difficult to decide which were the odder,
her looks or her sayings, the clothes she wore or the stories
she told. In externals, she might seem a strange wife for
a statesman. But, besides the obvious kindness and genu-
ineness of her nature, and the shrewd judgment which un-
derlay her inconsequent words, she had qualities peculiarly
becoming in her place : absolute trustworthiness and discre-
tion in political secrets, which Disraeli never seems to have
hid from her; a constancy and heroism which matched his
own, and which, on one notable occasion, enabled her to
bear the jamming of her finger in a carriage door in smiling
silence so that his equanimity on the way to an important
debate might not be disturbed.
Lady Beaconsfield was now an old woman of eighty,
and of late years had experienced much ill-health; on one
occasion, in 1868, her life was for some days in peril. In
the spring of 1872, after the fatigue and excitement of the
Manchester demonstrations, she once more showed signs of
i See Vol. II., ch. 2.
221
222 BEREAVEMENT [CHAP, vi
breaking down; but for a time performed, and was en-
couraged by her physician to perform, her social duties
as usual.
To Montagu Carry.
G. GATE, May 7, 1872. Sir William [Gull] examined me this
morning and has decided that though one of the bronchial tubes
is clogged, there is nothing organically wrong, or which may
not soon be put right.
Miladi is suffering less. She went to Lady Waldegrave's last
night, but was obliged to come home almost immediately. But,
as she boastfully says, her illness was not found out. She de-
lighted Fortescue x by telling him that she had heard him very
much praised. He pressed her very much when and where.
She replied, ' It was in bed.'
Sir William gives a good account of her to-day, and seems to
think he has remedied the pain, which is all we can hope for,
and has sanctioned, and even advised, her to go to Court: but
I don't think he allows enough for her extreme weakness. How-
ever, I shall be with her to-day; last night she was alone, which
I think fearful.
H. OF C. May 9, '72. The visit to Court was not successful.
She was suffering as she went, and was taken so unwell there,
that we had to retreat precipitately; but without much observa-
tion. Knowing the haunts of the palace a little, I got hold of
some female attendants who were very serviceable. . . .
CARLTON CLUB, May 14, '72. I have been, and am, so harassed,
that I have been quite unable to write a line and this will be
sad stuff.
Nothing encouraging at home. To see her every day weaker
and weaker is heartrending. I have had, like all of us, some
sorrows of this kind; but in every case, the fatal illness has been
apparently sudden, and comparatively short. The shock is great
under such circumstances no doubt, but there is a rebound in the
nature of things. But to witness this gradual death of one, who
has shared so long, and so completely, my life, entirely unmans
me.
For herself, she still makes an effort to enter society: and Sir
William approves and even counsels it; but it is impossible the
effort can be maintained.
I know not what are our movements. If the weather were
genial, I think she is disposed to try Hughenden, but I leave
i Chichester Fortescue, afterwards Lord Carlingford, was Lady Wal-
degrave'8 husband.
1872] LADY BEACONSFIELD'S ILLNESS 223
everything of this sort to her fancy and wish. She once talked
of going down on Thursday. I can't believe that after her
return, she will attempt society any more: the break of a fort-
night will produce some effect in this way. . . .
Lady Beaconsfield was taken to Hughenden for the Whit-
suntide recess ; but the malady did not yield to the change
and country air.
To Montagu Corry.
HUGHENDEN, May 22, 1872. . . . I have no good news. Her
sufferings have been great here: but the change of weather has
brought a ray of distraction.
She moves with great difficulty and cannot bear the slightest
roughness in the road, which sadly limits our travels. She
enjoyed yesterday going to the German Forest, ascending from
the Lady's Walk, but suffered afterwards. Antonelli pushes
her about in a perambulator a little, and seems to amuse her.
He heard a nightingale ' whistling ' about the house. She thinks
* whistling ' a capital term for bird noises. . . .
With indomitable pluck, Lady Beaconsfield, after her
return to town, refused to accept the confinement of an
invalid; but resumed her social life, until on July 17, at
a party at Lady Loudoun's house to meet the Duchess of
Cambridge, she suddenly became very seriously ill and
had to be taken home at once. The hostess and the guests
were struck by her wonderful courage, ' and indeed hero-
ism,' and by the unselfishness with which she seemed to
think more of the inconvenience which her illness might
cause her hostess than of her own acute pain. She was
never able to go out in London society again.
To Lady Beaconsfield.
July 25, 1872. I have nothing to tell you, except that I love
you, which, I fear, you will think rather dull. . . .
Natty * was very affectionate about you, and wanted me to
come home and dine with him; quite alone; but I told him that
you were the only person now, whom I could dine with; and
only relinquished you to-night for my country.
i The late Lord Rothschild, at this time M.P. for Aylesbury.
224 BEREAVEMENT [CHAP, vi
My country, I fear, will be very late; but I hope to find you
in a sweet sleep.
From Lady Beaconsfield.
July 26.
MY OWN DEAREST, I miss you sadly. I feel so grateful for
your constant tender love and kindness. I certainly feel better
this evening. . . . Your own devoted BEACONSFIELD.
This is the last letter of his wife's which Disraeli pre-
served probably the last she wrote him. She was not
able to be moved to Hughenden until the end of September ;
so he and she passed, as he expressed it, their ' first summer
in London.'
To Lord Cairns.
Private. GROSVENOR GATE, Aug. 17, 1872. Many, many
thanks. The birds were capital and pleased the fastidious palate
of my invalid.
The prospect of reaching Hughenden seems every day fainter.
Lady Beaconsfield has had more than one return of her hemor-
rhage, and, sometimes, I feel, and fear, that even her buoyant
and gallant spirit will hardly baffle so many causes of exhaustion.
We have not been separated for three and thirty years, and,
during all that time, in her society I never have had a moment
of dullness. It tears the heart to see such a spirit suffer, and
suffer so much! May you, my dear Cairns, never experience
my present feelings! . . .
From the Duchess of Cleveland.
RABY CASTLE, DARLINGTON, Sept. 12, '72. . . . One privilege
you have which is not granted to all. No two people surely can
look back upon a life of such loving and perfect companionship.
One of my sons once spoke to Lady Beaconsfield in wonder of
the youthful energy and high spirits she preserved, and said
something of the courage and force of character it showed.
' No,' she said, ' it is not that. It is that my life has been such
a happy one. I have had so much affection, and no troubles
no contradictions: that is what has kept me so young and
well.' . . .
To Gathorne Hardy.
Private. GROSVENOR GATE. Sept. 16, 1872. We are much
touched by yr. kind letter, which I mentioned to my wife. She
1872] A SUMMER IN LONDON 225
sends her very kindest regards to Mrs. Hardy and yourself, but
she does not see this letter, so I will say, that her condition oc-
casions me the greatest disquietude, tho' they tell me there is
some improvement. Her illness, under wh. she has, to some
degree, been suffering for many months, is a total inability to
take any sustenance, and it is to me perfectly marvellous how
she exists, and shows even great buoyancy of life.
We have never left Grosvenor Gate, tho' as everything has
been tried in vain, Lady Beaconsfield now talks of trying change
of air, and endeavouring to get down to Hughenden. As for
myself, I have never been into the town during the whole of
August and the present month, so, when business commences,
Pall Mall and Whitehall shall be as fresh to me as to my happier
comrades, who are shooting in Scotland or climbing the Alps.
One has the advantage here when we wake, of looking upon
trees, and bowery vistas, and we try to forget, that the Park is
called Hyde, and that the bowers are the bowers of Kensing-
ton.
We take drives in the counties of Middx. and Surrey, and
discover beautiful retreats of wh. we had never heard; so we
have the excitement of travel. What surprises me, more than
anything, is the immensity and variety of London, and the miles
of villas wh. are throwing out their antenna? in every suburban
direction. . . .
I should like to hear from you again as to your own health.
All depends on you. I am only holding the reins during a period
of transition, and more from a feeling of not deserting the
helm at a moment of supposed difficulty and danger, than any
other. . . .
A note in Disraeli's handwriting, apparently intended
for the Queen, gives some further particulars of these drives
round London.
What miles of villas ! and of all sorts of architecture ! What
beautiful churches ! What gorgeous palaces of Geneva ! *
One day we came upon a real feudal castle, with a donjon
keep high in the air. It turned out to be the new City prison
in Camden Road, but it deserves a visit; I mean externally.
Of all the kingdoms ruled over by our gracious mistress, the
most remarkable is her royaume de Cockaigne, and perhaps the
one the Queen has least visited. Her faithful servants in ques-
1 In letters to friends written at this time the ' gorgeous palaces of
Geneva ' became more prosaically ' gin-palaces.'
226 BEREAVEMENT [CHAP, vi
tion, preparing their expeditions with a map, investigated all
parts of it from Essex to Surrey, and Lady Beaconsfield calcu-
lated that from the 1st of August to the end of September she
travelled 220 miles.
To Lord Cairns.
GROSVENOR GATE, Sept. 26, 1872. You have expressed so much
sympathy for us, and it has heen so highly appreciated, that I
must tell you, that, to-day, we hope to reach Hughenden. There
has been, within the last week, a decided, and, I hope now, a
permanent improvement in my wife's health, and she is resolved
to try change of air. I am a little sorry, that we go home in the
fall of the leaf, and that too in a sylvan land, but home only can
insure her the comforts and the ease, which an invalid requires.
If she could only regain not appetite but even a desire
for sustenance, I should be confident of the future, the buoyancy
of her spirit is so very remarkable. However, there is a streak
of dawn. . . .
What Disraeli called ' our hegira from Grosvenor Gate '
proved at first a success; and on October 3 he could write
more cheerfully to Corry : ' Lady Beaconsfield has been
here a week, and has improved daily; there seems a sus-
tained revival of appetite, which had altogether ceased.' In
answer to the Queen's sympathetic inquiries through Lady
Ely he was able to report ' continuous improvement. You
know her buoyancy of spirit. She says she is now convinced
that everybody eats too much; still at the same time she
would like to be able to eat a little.'
The improvement was fallacious ; and though Lady Bea-
consfield occasionally received visitors and even apparently
paid a call on near neighbours, her husband's letters show
that her strength was waning during the following two
months, till the final attack came upon her in the second
week of December.
To Montagu Corry.
HUGHENDEN, Oct. 13, '72. . . . Things here very bad.
Nov. 8. . . . Affairs have been going very badly : so badly,
that I telegraphed, yesterday, for Leggatt and he came down
1873] SMALL PAKTY AT HUGHENDEN 227
immediately: but he took a different view from us, I am glad
to say: and persisted that, if sustenance could be taken, no im-
mediate danger was to be apprehended. But how to manage
that? The truth is, she never has even tasted any of the dishes,
that the Rothschilds used to send her in London, and anxious
as she was to partake of the delicacies you so kindly provided
for her, and which touched her much, it has ended with them as
with the feats of Lionel's chef!
Shall you be disengaged for three or four days on the 21st?
The John Manners are to come here on that day, if all goes
well. A party is impossible, but perhaps we might manage a
couple of men.
Nov. 13. Things go on here much the same : some improve-
ment which I ascribe to the weather not in the appetite, but
in continued absence of pain, and consequently enjoyment of
life. . . .
To Philip Rose.
HUGHENDEN MANOR, Nov. 13, 1872. . . . Lady Beaconsfield
intended to have called at Rayners to-day, and to have hoped
that Mrs. Rose and yourself would be able to dine with us on
Friday the 22nd. I trust we shall find you disengaged. The
snow frightened me, tho' my wife was inclined to face it.
The temporary improvement lasted long enough, to enable
the patient to enjoy her little party from November 21
to 25, including, besides the John Manners, Lord Eosebery
for the first two days, and Harcourt and Lord Ronald
Gower for the last two; and to justify one of those guests in
writing her a jocular letter of thanks.
William Vernon Harcourt to Lady Beaconsfield.
TRIN. COLL., CAMBRIDGE, Nov. 26, 1872. I have all my life
made efforts (apparently destined to be unsuccessful) to appear
what Falstaff, or is it Touchstone ?, calls ' moderate honest.'
But here I am actually a felon malgre moi. Joseph's butler was
not more alarmed and shocked than I was when, on opening my
sack, the first thing I discovered in its mouth was the French
novel you had provided for my entertainment in my charming
bedroom at Hughenden. Whether the act was one of accidental
larceny by my servant or whether it was insidiously effected by
Lord J. Manners in order to ruin my public and private reputa-
228 BEKEAVEMENT [CHAP, vi
tion, I do not feel sure. I did however return it by this morn-
ing's post before I left London, and so I hope to be forgiven.
I have already taken measures to secure a consignment to
you of Trinity audit ale. Delicious as it is, I doubt whether
there really exists anyone except a Cambridge man who can
drink it with impunity. . . .
And now a truce to nonsense. I must offer you one word of
serious and sincere thanks for the true and genuine kindness
which I have received at your hands and those of Mr. Disraeli.
It was no language of compliment but of simple truth which
I spoke when I told you that, of all visits which it was possible
to pay, there was none of which I should have been more
ambitious than that which I owed to your hospitality last Sun-
day. There are things in the world which one not only enjoys
at the time but which one remembers always and these are
of them. . . .
Disraeli told Harcourt that a glass of the Trinity audit
ale was almost the last thing which passed Lady Beacons-
field's lips before she died. Lord Ronald Gower, writing
of this visit in his Reminiscences, vividly depicts Disraeli's
distress in talking of his wife's sufferings. ' His face, gen-
erally so emotionless, was filled with a look of suffering and
woe that nothing but the sorrow of her whom he so truly
loves would cause on that impassive countenance.'
To Montagu Corry.
Nov. 29. . . . My lady's appetite has been sustained; indeed
I think I may say it is restored : but her sufferings are increased,
and I have just been obliged to send to Leggatt to beg him to
come down to-morrow.
She got over her visit and visitors, notwithstanding this, with
success and great tact: showing little, but always to effect. . . .
To Philip Rose.
HUGHENDEN, Dec. 6, 1872. Affairs are most dark here I
tremble for the result, and even an immediate one. My poor
wife has got (it matters not by what means) congestion on her
lungs, and with her shattered state, it seems to me almost hope-
less, that, even with her constitution, we should again escape.
I entirely trust to your coming to me, if anything happens. /
am totally unable to meet the catastrophe. . . .
1872] DEATH OF LADY BEACONSFIELD 229
The last stage was mercifully not prolonged. She died
on December 15, after a week's acute illness, during which
her husband seldom left her room. A note which he sent
out to Corry on one of these days is preserved : * She says
she must see you. Calm, but the delusions stronger than
ever. She will not let me go out to fetch you. Come. D.'
There was a great outpouring of public and private
sympathy with Disraeli in this severe trial. The terms of
close affection on which he had lived with his wife, long
familiar to his intimates, had of late years become widely
known to the country. Letters of condolence poured in,
not merely from friends and colleagues, but from perfect
strangers of all classes and parties ; and the public journals
manifested appreciation and respect. The Queen, whose
telegrams and messages of inquiry had been constant
throughout the illness, wrote:
From Queen Victoria.
WINDSOR CASTLE, Dec. 15, 1872. The Queen well knows that
Mr. Disraeli will not consider the expression of her heartfelt
sympathy an intrusion in this his first hour of desolation and
overwhelming grief, and therefore she at once attempts to ex-
press what she feels. The Queen knew and admired as well as
appreciated the unbounded devotion and affection which united
him to the dear partner of his life, whose only thought was him.
And therefore the Queen knows also what Mr. Disraeli has lost
and what he must suffer. The only consolation to be found is
in her present peace and freedom from suffering, in the recollec-
tion of their life of happiness and in the blessed certainty of
eternal reunion.
May God support and sustain him is the Queen's sincere prayer.
Her children are all anxious to express their sympathy.
Yesterday was the anniversary of her great loss.
The Prince and Princess of Wales and other members
of the Royal Family were among the first to send their
sympathy. Queen Sophia of the Netherlands wrote : ' It
is given to few to have a character like hers ' ; the King
of the Belgians, on behalf of the Queen and himself:
' Toute notre sympathie est avec vous dans ce cruel mo-
230 BEKEAVEMENT [CHAP, vi
ment ' ; the Due D'Aumale : ' Personne mieux que moi
ne comprend pas 1'etendue de votre douleur. . . . Mon
coeur est tout avec le votre ' ; and the Empress of Austria,
through Count Bernstorff : ' She knows how deeply Lady
Beaconsfield was devoted to you and how you returned
her devotion by touching affection and gratitude.' Her
great personal kindness was what the old Whig leader,
Russell, among many others, dwelt on in a sympathetic
note. Lord Rosebery, who had been one of the last visitors
at Hughenden, wrote : 1 1 can hardly now realise that my
kind hostess whom I saw full of life and spirit a few days
ago has passed away. ... I suppose no one ever came near
her without admiring her goodness, her unselfishness, and
her magnificent devotion.' The Prime Minister's letter
and an American tribute may be given more at length :
From, William Ewart Gladstone.
10, DOWNING STREET, WHITEHALL, Jan. 19, 1873. . . . You
and I were, as I believe, married in the same year. It has been
permitted to both of us to enjoy a priceless boon through a third
of a century. Spared myself tbe blow which has fallen on you,
I can form some conception of what it must have been and be.
I do not presume to offer you the consolation which you will
seek from another and higher quarter. I offer only the assur-
ance which all who know you, all who knew Lady Beaconsfield,
and especially those among them who like myself enjoyed for
a length of time her marked though unmerited regard, may
perhaps render without impropriety; the assurance tbat in tbia
trying hour they feel deeply for you, and with you. . . .
To William Ewart Gladstone.
HUGHENDEN MANOR, Jan. 24, 1873. I am much touched by
your kind words in my great sorrow. I trust, I earnestly trust,
that you may be spared a similar affliction. Marriage is the
greatest earthly happiness, when founded on complete sympathy.
.That hallowed lot was mine, and for a moiety of my existence;
and I know it is yours.
From John Lothrop Motley.
MENTMORE, LEIGHTON BUZZARD, Feb. 21, '73.. . . I shall never
forget the most agreeable visit which my wife and I enjoyed at
1872-1873] SYMPATHY OF FRIENDS 231
Hughenden a little before we left England nor any of Lady
Beaconsfield's acts of charming and graceful hospitality united
to your own. I always admired her ready wit, her facility and
charm in social intercourse, her quick perception of character
and events, and it was impossible not to be deeply touched by
her boundless devotion to yourself, which anyone, allowed the
privilege of your acquaintance, could see was most generously
and loyally repaid. . . .
I never met her in society without being greeted by a kindly
smile and a sympathetic word, and I have frequently enjoyed long
and to me most agreeable conversations with her. She knew
well how thoroughly I appreciated and shared in her admiration
for the one great object of her existence. . . .
Disraeli was, for the time, overwhelmed by his loss.
Two of his letters will show his feeling. He used the same
or very similar expressions to all his friends. That she had
appreciated them was their great merit in his eyes. ' Of
character,' he wrote to one of them, ' she was no mean
judge. I must ever regard those who remember her with
tenderness and respect.'
To the Prince of Wales.
HUGHENDEN MANOR,
Dec. 22, 1872.
SIR AND DEAR PRINCE, I will attempt to thank Her Royal
Highness and yourself for the sympathy which you have shown
to me in my great sorrow, a grief for which I was unprepared,
and which seems to me overwhelming.
A few days before her death, she spoke to me of the Princess
and yourself, Sir, in terms of deep regard, and, if I may pre-
sume to say so, of affection. I took, therefore, the occasion of
mentioning the invitation she had received to Sandringham,
and she was gratified. She said ' It would have been a happy
incident in a happy life, now about to close. I liked his society,
I delighted in the merriment of his kind heart.'
I shall always remember with gratitude the invariable kind-
ness shewn by Her Royal Highness and yourself, Sir, to one
who for 33 years was the inseparable and ever interesting com-
panion of my life.
232 BEKEAVEMENT [CHAP, vi
To Lord Cairns.
GROSVENOR GATE, Dec. 28, '72. Kind and much loved friend !
I thank you for all your sympathy in my great sorrow, and for
all your goodness to one, who was my inseparable, and ever-
interesting companion for a moiety of my existence. She al-
ways appreciated you, and thought me fortunate in having such a
friend.
Altho' you are the one, whom I should wish first, and most,
to see, I will not precipitate our interview, for I have not yet
subdued the anguish of the supreme sorrow of my life.
I am obliged to be here on business, and shall remain here
till Friday, when I go out of town for a day or two, but not to
Hughenden. On Monday, i.e., to-morrow, week, I must return
here. It will be my last visit to a house, where I have passed
exactly half my days, and, so far as my interior life was con-
cerned, in unbroken happiness. . . .
Among Lady Beaconsfield's papers was found a touching
letter of farewell to her husband, written many years be-
fore, in view of the high probability that she, who was the
elder by twelve years, would be the first to die.
June 6, 1856.
MY OWN DEAR HUSBAND. If I should depart this life before
you, leave orders that we may be buried in the same grave at
whatever distance you may die from England. 1 And now, God
bless you, my kindest, dearest ! You have been a perfect husband
to me. Be put by my side in the same grave. And now, fare-
Swell, my dear Dizzy. Do not live alone, dearest. Some one I
earnestly hope you may find as attached to you as your own
devoted MARY ANNE.
Accordingly, Lady Beaconsfield was buried in Hugh-
enden churchyard in the vault in which her husband was
himself to be laid, and by the side of their benefactress,
Mrs. Brydges Willyams. Directly the simple funeral was
over, Disraeli, as appears from his letter to Cairns, was
plunged in business. His wife's death, made a vast change
in his circumstances; he lost thereby 5,000 a year and
a house in town ; though his generous friend, Andrew Mon-
i This was written shortly before Disraeli and his wife were about
to leave England for a cure at a Continental watering-place on account
of his health. See Vol. IV., p. 51.
1873] IN A LONDON HOTEL 233
tagu, gave him material assistance by reducing the interest
on his debts from 3 to 2 per cent. He had to move all his
possessions from Grosvernor Gate, and find a new abiding-
place in London. ' Corry seems his factotum,' wrote Hardy
in his diary, ' and he needs one, for he is quite unfit for
that sort of business.' He took refuge for a time in an
hotel Edwards's Hotel, in George Street, Hanover
Square. ' It was, in the days of my youth,' he told North-
cote, ' the famous house of Lady Palmerston, then Lady
Cowper ; and at least I shall labour in rooms where a great
statesman has been inspired.'
There had been some fear amongst his colleagues, whom
the events of the past year had quite converted from their
heresies on the leadership, lest the loss of one so intimately
associated with the triumphs of his political career should
incline Disraeli to withdraw from active politics. On the
contrary, he turned to them as a welcome distraction. He
asked two of his leading colleagues, Cairns and Hardy, to
come to him at Hughenden in the middle of January.
Their presence, he wrote, would be ' a source of strength
and consolation,' and would make him ' much more capable
of re-entering public life.' With them he discussed the
, political situation and the vagaries of the Government ; and
to them he declared his intention of being present and
speaking when the session began.
When he went up to town he was deprived of the comfort
of Corry's presence, owing to the serious illness of Corry's
father.
To Montagu Corry.
EDWARDS'S HOTEL, Feb. 4, '73. I left you with a bleeding heart
yesterday, amid all the sorrows, which seemed to accumulate
around our heads: but your telegram has a little lifted me out
of the slough of despond. I had just energy enough to send
a paragraph to the papers, and messages to Nbrthcote and
Derby. The former was with me at 11 o'clock, and has under-
taken to communicate with Gladstone about the speech, and the
latter has just left me. ... Harrington has also paid me a
long visit. Hardy is to be with me to-morrow morning, and
234 BEKEAVEMENT [CHAP, vi
has sent me a memorandum from Cairns, which contains all I
required. Hardy gives a dinner to the party to-morrow: Cairns
to-day to Lords and Commons.
Give my kind regards to your father and sister. I hope every
hour to have another telegram that his amendment has become
convalescence.
All my friends admire my rooms. I cannot say I agree with
them, but things may mend.
Fortunately for Disraeli the political crisis which re-
sulted in Gladstone's abortive resignation immediately
supervened. He had something therefore to distract his
thoughts; but his loneliness in his hotel weighed heavily
upon him, and in his letters to Corry he constantly harped
on his l miserable state/ his * melancholy,' ' the heaviness
and misery ' of his life. Corry could not return to him,
as the elder Corry's illness became increasingly serious and
ended fatally in March. Disraeli said to Malmesbury with
tears in his eyes, ' I hope some of my friends will take
notice of me now in my great misfortune, for I have no
home, and when I tell my coachman to drive home I feel
it is a mockery.' His friends responded to his appeal, and
did their best to cheer him up by asking him to dine with
them quietly.
To Montagu Corry.
HOUSE OF COMMONS, Feb. 10, 1873. . . . All yesterday, rumors
of a crisis were in the air. At Lionel's * where I was asked to
a family circle I found, to my annoyance, not merely Charles
Villiers and Osborne, whom I look upon as the family, but Lords
Cork and Houghton. The political excitement was great, and
not favorable to the position of Ministers : but Lionel told me
afterwards, that he had seen the Bill (Delane had shown it him).
Would you believe it, I was so distrait, and altogether embar-
rassed, that I never asked him a question about it?
This morning I was obliged to go to Middleton's about the
picture, 2 which is virtually finished. He has altered the ex-
pression, but not hit the mark. I have made some suggestions,
but am not sanguine about them. . . .
1 Baron Lionel de Rothschild.
2 Of Lady Beaconsfield ; see Frontispiece.
1873] QUIET DINNERS WITH FRIENDS 235
Adieu! mon ires cher. I never wanted you more, but it is
selfish to say so.
Feb. 17. . . . I was much pleased with the portrait, and the
frame, which is exquisite. He has succeeded in giving to the
countenance an expression of sweet gravity, which is character-
istic. . . .
Feb. 18. . . . I dined yesterday at the Carlton: latish and
was not annoyed. The John Manners asked me again for to-
morrow, but I declined. On Thursday I am to dine with the
Cairns and meet the Hardys, and on Friday alone with the
Stanhopes : Saturday alone with my Countess : x so all my plans
of absolute retirement are futile. I regret this, for every visit
makes me more melancholy though hotel life in an evening
is a cave of despair.
I was with Brunnow an hour to-day and Madame would
come down, and kiss me!
March 1. Your letter greatly distressed me, and I have been
in hopes of receiving a telegram.
I have been dining out every day, but only with my host and
hostess alone and sometimes a very friendly fourth. 'Yester-
day, at the John Manners', with Duke of Rutland ; and on Thurs-
day at the Stanhopes' with dear Henry, 2 who received two des-
patches from Marlboro' House, during the dinner. I dine with
dear Henry to-day to meet B. Osborne alone : and to-morrow with
the Malmesburys; it is better than dining here alone, which is
intolerable, or at a club, which, even with a book, is not very
genial. . . .
March 7. Your silence, my best and dearest Montagu, was
ominous of your impending woe. What can I say to you, but
express my infinite affection? Death has tried you hard dur-
ing the last few months, but you have shown, in the severe proof,
admirable qualities, which all must admire and love.
I should be glad to hear some tidings of your sister : as for
myself, I am a prisoner, and almost prostrate, with one of those
atmospheric attacks which the English persist in calling ' colds,'
and, for the first time in my life, am absent from House of
Commons in the midst of a pitched battle.
But these are nothings compared to your sorrows. Though I
cannot soften, let me share, them.
April 4. . . . To-day I went by appointment to New Court,
expecting to do business: nothing done. Lionel there, but not
well: a terrible luncheon of oysters and turtle prepared, and
1 Apparently Lady Chesterfield, or perhaps Lady Cardigan.
2 Lord Henry Lennox.
236 BEEEAVEMENT [CHAP, vi
after that nothing settled. This was disgusting. I dine with
the Stanhopes to-day. On Wednesday last a rather full party
at Grillion's: the last dinner at the bankrupt Clarendon [hotel].
Salisbury was there, and Lowe.
To the Duchess of Abercorn*
12, GEORGE STREET, HANOVER SQUARE, May 18, '73. It is most
kind of you, and of his Grace, to remember me: but I am, really,
living in seclusion, so far as general society is concerned, and
therefore, I am sure you will permit me to decline your oblig-
ing invitation for the 24th.
Your ' boys ' deserve kindness and encouragement, because
they are clever and, above all, industrious, and perhaps, also,
because they inherit the agreeable qualities of their parents.
CHAPTER VII
LADY BRADFORD AND LADY CHESTERFIELD
1873-1875
To Disraeli the rupture of a union so complete as was
that between him and his wife meant more than it would
have meant to most affectionate husbands. His tempera-
ment was such that he could not be happy, and could not
bring out the best work of which he was capable, without
intimate female association and sympathy. * My nature
demands that my life should be perpetual love,' had been
a glowing outburst of his youth ; and that love, for all his
wealth of men friends and the affection which he lavished
on them, must be the love of woman. In Henrietta Temple
he wrote : l A female friend, amiable, clever, and devoted,
is a possession more valuable than parks and palaces; and,
without such a muse, few men can succeed in life, none
be content.' Throughout his whole life he had been blessed
with devotion and sympathy of this kind in ample measure.
Two women, first his sister and then his wife, had made
him and his ambitions the centre of their existence ; to both
of them his own affection and devotion had been unstinted ;
there had been between him nd them a constant com-
munion of thoughts and hopes and sympathies. In a lesser
degree Mrs. Brydges Willyams, in her later years, shared
in this close intimacy. There were, moreover, other ladies
whose sympathetic appreciation had cheered and helped
his career such as Mrs. Austen, Lady Blessington, and
Frances Anne Lady Londonderry. ' I feel fortunate,' he
wrote * in 1874, ' in serving a female Sovereign. I owe
everything to woman ; and if, in the sunset of life, I have
i To Lady Bradford.
237
238 LADY BRADFORD [CHAP, vn
still a young heart, it is due to that influence.' With all
the women who influenced his life he kept up a constant
correspondence of a romantic and sentimental kind, in which
he revealed, not merely his doings, but his thoughts and
his character. ' A she-correspondent for my money,' was
the exclamation of one of his exuberant youthful heroes;
and it is to the fact that he carried on throughout his life
a copious correspondence with women that our knowledge
of the real Disraeli is largely due.
With Lady Beaconsfield's death the last of the women
with whom he had hitherto enjoyed this sympathetic inter-
course passed away ; and he was left for the time widowed
indeed. Few men at his age sixty-eight would have
had the freshness of heart to form new attachments, and
to resume with others the sentimental and romantic in-
timacy which had proved so stimulating an influence;
and of those who still possessed sufficient youthfulness for
the adventure, most would have been prevented, especially
if public men, by the fear of incurring censure and ridicule.
But Disraeli's affections were still warm, and craved sym-
pathetic understandings; nor was he to be deterred by
possible ridicule from following their dictates. He spoke
for himself when he wrote a few years earlier in Lothair l :
1 Threescore and ten, at the present day, is the period of
romantic passions. As for our enamoured sexagenarians,
they avenge the theories of our cold-hearted youth.'
Among those who showed him special kindness in his
early months of loneliness and desolation were two sisters,
whom he had long known in society, Lady Chesterfield
and Lady Bradford. Anne Countess of Chesterfield was
the eldest, and Selina Countess of Bradford was the young-
est, of five sisters, daughters of the first Lord Forester, the
head of an ancient Shropshire family. Of the other sisters
one married Lord Carrington's eldest son, Robert John
Smith, and died young in 1832, before her husband suc-
ceeded to the title. She was of course a neighbour of the
iCh. 35.
ANNE, COUNTESS OF CHESTERFIELD.
From a portrait after Sir E. Landseer, R.A., at Hughenden.
1873] THE FIVE FORESTER SISTERS 239
Disraelis after they established themselves at Bradenham
in 1829 ; and it was at Wycombe Abbey, but apparently
after Mrs. Smith's death, that Disraeli first met Lady Brad-
ford. * Mr. D. will tell you,' wrote Lady Bradford to Mrs.
Disraeli in March, 1868, ' that our first acquaintance was
100 years ago in poor Lord Carrington's house, before he
[Disraeli] knew you.' Another sister married General
Anson, who was Commander-in-Chief in India when the
Mutiny broke out ; * and the remaining sister married Lord
Albert Conyngham, afterwards the first Lord Londesbor-
ough. In their youth the five sisters were prominent in
the world of fashion, gaiety, and sport the world that
revolved round Almack's, of which their mother Lady
Forester was an eminent patroness; and at least Lady
Chesterfield, Mrs. Anson, and Lady Bradford had been
reigning beauties. Disraeli, in his days of dandyism, was
naturally thrown in their company. In 1835 he went to
a specially gorgeous fancy dress ball with a party which in-
cluded the Chesterfields and the Ansons, and told his sister
that ' Lady Chesterfield was a sultana.' 2 In 1838 he
met at Wycombe Abbey a whole family party of the For-
esters ' rather noisy, but very gay ' ' Lady Chesterfield,
George and Mrs. Anson, the Albert Conynghams, Forester,'
and ' made the greatest friends with all of them,' he told
Mrs. Wyndham Lewis. 3 The second brother, General ' Cis '
Forester, who sat for Wenlock in Parliament for nearly
half a century and succeeded to the title in 1874, had been
a friend of Disraeli's from early years.
Of the five sisters only Lady Chesterfield and Lady
Bradford were still living. Lady Chesterfield, who was a
couple of years older than Disraeli, was the widow of the
sixth Earl of Chesterfield who had died seven years before.
Her daughter had married one of the Reform Bill dis-
sentients, Carnarvon. Lady Bradford was the wife of the
third Earl of Bradford, a sporting peer, and a man of
1 See Vol. IV., p. 87. See Vol. II., p. 49.
2 See Vol. I., pp. 302, 303.
240 LADY BRADFORD [CHAP, vn
character and consideration, who had been Disraeli's col-
league as Lord Chamberlain from 1866 to 1868, and was
again to be his colleague as Master of the Horse from 1874
to 1880. She was seventeen years younger than her sister;
but both ladies were by this time grandmothers. When
Lady Bradford's eldest son, Lord Newport, was married
in 1869, Disraeli had written him what his mother called,
we learn from a note of Corry's of that date, f the nicest let-
ter in the world, and such a clever one.'
With both these sisters Disraeli became, during the spring
and summer of 1873, on terms of intimate friendship. In
them he found that female sympathy and companionship
without which life was for him an incomplete thing. That
they were ladies influential in the fashionable and aristo-
cratic Tory society which had shown some reluctance to
admit his undisputed sway as leader counted, no doubt, for
something with him. That they recalled the memories and
attachments of his youth, when to be taken up by Lady
Forester and the bright particular stars of Almack's was
of importance to him, counted for more with one whose gra-
titude was lifelong. But, over and above all these considera-
tions, his personal affection for, and devotion to, both ladies
were quite unmistakable. Of the circumstances in which
the intimacy arose he wrote to Lady Chesterfield in the
autumn, ' Altho,' from paramount duty, I attended Parlia-
ment this session, I have never been in society, except that
delightful week when, somehow or other, I found myself
in the heart of your agreeable family.' The first letter
to Lady Chesterfield which has been preserved was writ-
ten in June, 1873, and he was .already on such terms with
her that he addressed her as l Dearest Lady Ches.' and
subscribed himself, ' Your most affectionate D.' The first
letter of the series to Lady Bradford was written in July,
and in the second, August, she too was ' Dearest Lady Brad-
ford.' He went to stay in the autumn with the one at
Bretby and with the other at Weston ; and these visits were
constantly repeated to the close of his life, and were re-
1873] AN OFFER OF MARRIAGE 241
turned by the ladies and by Lord Bradford at Hughenden.
There have been preserved some 500 letters to Lady Chester-
field in these eight years, and no fewer than 1,100 to Lady
Bradford ; while the twelve years of his acquaintance with
Mrs. Brydges Willyams only produced about 250. This
Bradford-Chesterfield correspondence is absolutely invalu-
able for a due understanding of Disraeli's final period ; like
the letters in earlier times to his sister and his wife, it both
reveals his intimate hopes and feelings, and also describes
in brilliant fashion, from day to day, at times almost
from hour to hour, his political and social experiences. 1
The ladies' letters were destroyed, by their desire, after
his death.
So necessary to Disraeli's life was the intimacy thus
established ' the delightful society,' as he told Lady Ches-
terfield in March, 1874, 'of the two persons I love most
in the world ' that he endeavoured to make it permanent
by asking Lady Chesterfield to marry him, so that he might
grapple one lady to his heart as his wife, and the other as
his sister. She not unnaturally refused. Even had she
been willing, when she had passed her seventieth birthday,
to marry once more, she must have speedily realised that she
did not occupy the first place in Disraeli's affections. For
though it was to Lady Chesterfield, as the only sister who
was free, that he proposed marriage, it was to Lady Brad-
ford that he was most tenderly attached. He wrote to her
more than twice as many letters as he did to her sister, some-
times, when in office, sending her two, or even three, in one
day, by special messengers from Downing Street or from
the Treasury bench. Such messengers, he wrote, * may wait
at your house the whole day, and are the slaves of your will.
A messenger from a Prime Minister to a Mistress of the
Horse cannot say his soul is his own.' Romantic devotion
breathes in Disraeli's language to both sisters; but the
i The Duke of Richmond told Cairns on July 27, 1876, that Lady
Bradford ' seems to know everything, down to the most minute details
of everything that passes.'
242 LADY BRADFORD [CHAP, vn
Oriental extravagance of his sentiments is beyond a doubt
more marked when he is addressing Lady Bradford. The
correspondence with Lady Chesterfield, in spite of the offer
and refusal, preserves on the whole an even tone of deeply
affectionate friendship. But Lady Bradford was often
taken aback by Disraeli's septuagenarian ardour, and em-
barrassed by his incessant calls at her house in Belgrave
Square and his unending demands on her time; though
she, as well as her sister, could not but be flattered by the
assiduous attentions of one who was for the greater part of
the last eight years of his life the most famous and admired
man in the country.
The relation between Disraeli and these sisters can hardly
fail to recall the relation between Horace Walpole, in the
last decade of his long life, and the two Miss Berrys.
There was the same affection in each case for two sisters;
the same desire to marry one, in order to insure the con-
stant society of both. The Miss Berrys, however, were in*
the twenties when Horace Walpole made their acquaintance ;
whereas Lady Chesterfield was over seventy and Lady Brad-
ford was in her fifty-fifth year when Disraeli's attachment
began. But Disraeli's chivalrous devotion to women was
independent of physical attraction and the appeal of youth.
Otherwise his elderly wife not to speak of Mou Willyams
and others would hardly have influenced him as she did
to the day of her death. Though the Russian Ambassador
might sneer at the society which Disraeli in his latter years
affected as toutes grand'meres, it is a most honourable
feature in his composition that, in his relation to women,
as in his relation to the problems of life and eternity, he
rejected absolutely any physical or sensuous standard, and
poured out his devotion before an ideal, regardless of the
ravages of care and time.
The characters of the two sisters were complementary;
Lady Chesterfield had more strength and constancy, Lady
Bradford more sweetness and gaiety ; both were sympathetic
in a high degree. Lady Bradford, as befitted the mother
1873-1874] DISRAELI'S DEVOTION 243
of marriageable daughters, was in the full whirl of society,
a constant attendant at the functions of the London season,
and at the principal race meetings, moving in the autumn
from one country house party to another. Lady Cheater-
field, a much older woman, though taking a fair share of
social pleasures, was more often to be found, surrounded
by friends, in her own home at Bretby. Lady Bradford
had perhaps a quicker appreciation of Disraeli's moods and
aspirations, but was by no means so certain to respond to
them as her sister. Writing to Lady Bradford, in January,
1874, he said of Lady Chesterfield that * the secret of her
charm is the union of grace and energy ; a union very rare,
but in her case most felicitous.' Of Lady Bradford's own
character he wrote to herself in May of that year : l A
sweet simplicity, blended with high breeding; an intellect
not over-drilled, but lively, acute, and picturesque ; a sera-
phic temper, and a disposition infinitely sympathetic
these are some of the many charms that make you beloved
of D.'
The fervid nature of Disraeli's devotion will be realised
from a letter which he wrote to Lady Bradford three weeks
after becoming Prime Minister for the second time. She
and Lady Chesterfield were leaving London for the coun-
try; and a separation which was only to last from the
middle of March till the first week of April filled him with
consternation.
To Lady Bradford.
10, DOWNING STREET, WHITEHALL, March 13, 1874. The moat
fascinating of women was never more delightful than this after-
noon. I could have sat for ever, watching every movement
that was grace, and listening to her speaking words but alas !
the horrid thought, ever and anon, came over me ' It is a
farewell visit.' It seemed too cruel! I might have truly said,
Pleased to the last, I cropped the flowery food,
And kissed the hand just raised to shed my blood.
Constant separations! Will they never cease? If anything
could make me love your delightful sister more than I do, it is
her plans for Easter, which realise a dream!
244 LADY BRADFORD [CHAP, vn
I am certain there is no greater misfortune, than to have a
heart that will not grow old. It requires all the sternness of
public life to sustain one. If we have to govern a great country,
we ought not to be distrait, and feel the restlessness of love.
Such things should be the appanage of the youthful heroes I
have so often painted, but alas! I always drew from my own
experience, and were I to write again to-morrow, I fear I should
be able to do justice to the most agitating, tho' the most amiable,
weakness of humanity.
Writing to Lady Chesterfield of the same farewell visit
Disraeli said : ' The matchless sisters, as I always call
them, were never so delightful as yesterday afternoon,' and
he proceeded to use to her much the same language as to
Lady Bradford. Lady Chesterfield, the widow, accepted
the compliment without demur: but Lady Bradford, the
wife, was offended by the extravagance of his expressions.
Disraeli assumed, in return, the airs of a despairing lover.
To Lady Bradford.
10, DOWNING STREET, March 17, 1874. I sent you a hurried
line this morning, as I thought it my only opportunity of writ-
ing, and I did not wish you to think I was silent, because I
was 'tetchy.' I have just come back from W[indsor], and I
send you this, because I think it may prevent misapprehension.
Your view of correspondence, apparently, is that it should
be confined to. facts, and not admit feelings. Mine is the reverse ;
and I could as soon keep a journal, wh. I never could do, as
maintain a correspondence of that kind.
The other day you said it was wonderful that I cd. write to
you, with all the work and care I have to encounter. It is
because my feelings impel me to write to you. It was my duty
and my delight : the duty of my heart and the delight of my life.
I do not think I was very unreasonable. I have never asked
anything from you but your society. When I have that, I am
content, which I may well be, for its delight is ineffable. When
we were separated, the loneliness of my life found some relief in
what might have been a too fond idolatry.
The menace of perpetual estrangement seemed a severe punish-
ment for what might have been a weakness, but scarcely an un-
pardonable one. However you shall have no cause to inflict it.
I awake from a dream of baffled sympathy, and pour forth my
feelings, however precious, from a golden goblet, on the sand.
1874] LOVERS' COMEDY WITH LADY BRADFORD 245
( I thought all was over between us/ he wrote in his
next letter; but two days afterwards the difference was
made up ; ' I found a letter, which took a load off my heart,
and I pressed it to my lips.' This lovers' comedy was
repeated with Lady Bradford over and over again during
the early years of the 1874 Administration. The septu-
agenarian, who had the governance of the Empire and the
conduct of the Commons on his shoulders, and who neces-
sarily was leading a public life of incessant and laborious
occupation, nevertheless traversed in his private life the
whole gamut of half-requited love passionate devotion,
rebuff, despair, resignation, renewed hope, reconciliation,
ecstasy; and then traversed it da capo. One such crisis
occurred in connection with a masked ball in the height
of the season of 1874.
To Lady Bradford.
H. OF O., June 29, 1874. I am distressed at the relations
which have arisen between us, and, after two days' reflection,
I have resolved to write once more.
I went to Mantagu House on Friday with great difficulty, to
see you, and to speak to you on a matter of interest to me. I
thought your manner was chilling: you appeared to avoid me,
and when perhaps somewhat intrusively, but I had no other
chance, for I saw you were on the point of quitting me I
suggested some mode by which we might recognise each other
at the ball, you only advised me not to go!
Your feelings to me are not the same as mine have been to
you. That is natural and reasonable. Mine make me sensitive
and perhaps exigeant, and render my society in public embarrass-
ing to you, and therefore not agreeable. Unfortunately for me,
my imagination did not desert me with my youth. I have always
felt this a great misfortune. It would have involved me in
calamities, bad not nature bestowed on me, and in a large degree,
another quality the sense of the ridiculous.
That has given me many intimations, during some months;
but, in the turbulence of my heart, I was deaf to them. Re-
flection, however, is irresistible ; and I cannot resist certainly the
conviction that much in my conduct to you, during this year,
has been absurd.
On Friday night, I had written to you to forget it, and to
246 LADY BRADFORD [CHAP, vn
forget me. But I linger round the tie on which I had staked
my happiness. You may deride my weakness, but I wished
you to know my inward thoughts, and that you should not think
of me as one who was ungrateful or capricious.
2, WHITEHALL GARDENS, Wedy. [? July 1]. Your note has
just reached me. It w*as unexpected and delightful. I am
touched by your writing so spontaneously, for my stupid words
did not deserve a response. ... I am glad you think I am
1 better and wiser of late.' I feel I am changed, but I am much
happier.
Thursday [July 2, 1874]. . . . I regret to tell you that my
enemy attacked me in the night, and I am obliged to go down
to the Ho. of C. in a black velvet shoe, of Venetian fashion,
part of my dress for that unhappy masqued ball, my absence
from wh. causes such endless inquiries wh. exhaust even my
imagination for replies. . . .
Lady .Chesterfield was in the secret of this misunder-
standing, and to her Disraeli humorously explained how
he had obtained a pleasant revenge for Lady Bradford's
treatment of him.
To Anne Lady Chesterfield.
2, WHITEHALL GARDENS, Thursday [July 9, 1874]. . . . Yes-
terday was very agreeable at the Palace. I found a seat next
to Selina, and I took her to supper. She was standing by me
in the royal circle, when the P. of Wales, Princess, Princess
Mary, and others, came up in turn, and asked why I had not been
at the masqued ball. I said to some, ' It was a secret, and
that I was bound not to tell.' I said to the Princess of Wales,
that I was dressed in my domino and about to go, when a fair
Venetian gave me a goblet of aqua tofana, and I sank to the
ground in a state of asphyxia. Selina heard all this! . . .
Here is another self -revealing letter after a rebuff :
To Lady Bradford.
2, WHITEHALL GARDENS, Aug. 3, 1874. . . . To love as I love,
and rarely to see the being one adores, whose constant society
is absolutely necessary to my life ; to be precluded even from the
only shadowy compensation for such a torturing doom the
privilege of relieving my heart by expressing its affection is
a lot which I never could endure, and cannot.
1874-1875] JEALOUS AFFECTION 247
But for my strange position, wh. enslaves, while it elevates,
me, I would fly for ever, as I often contemplate, to some beauti-
ful solitude, and relieve, in ideal creation, the burthen of such
a dark and harassing existence. But the iron laws of a stern
necessity seen to control our lives, and with all the daring and
all the imagination in the world, conscious or unconscious, we
are slaves. . . .
This is rather a long scribblement : pardon that, for it is prob-
ably one of the last letters I shall ever send you. My mind is
greatly disturbed and dissatisfied. I require perfect solitude or
perfect sympathy. My present life gives me neither of these
ineffable blessings. It may be brilliant, but it is too fragmen-
tary. It is not a complete existence. It gives me neither the
highest development of the intellect or the heart; neither Poetry
nor Love.
And here, from the correspondence of 1875, are letters
betraying various moods of jealous and unsatisfied affec-
tion:
To Lady Bradford.
2, WHITEHALL GARDENS, Feb. 24, 1875. I should grieve if the
being to whom I am entirely devoted shd. believe for a moment
that I am unreasonable and capricious. Therefore I will con-
dense in a few lines a remark or two on a topic to which I hope
never to recur.
You have said that I prefer your letters to your society. On
the contrary, a single interview with you is worth a hundred
even of your letters, tho' they have been, for more than a year,
the charm and consolation of my life. But I confess I have
found a contrast between yr. letters and yr. general demeanor
to me, which has often perplexed, and sometimes pained, me:
and it is only in recurring to those letters that I have found
solace.
Something happened a little while ago, wh., according to my
sad interpretation, threw a light over this contrariety; but it
was a light wh. revealed, at the same time, the ruin of my heart
and hopes. I will not tell you how much I have suffered. I
became quite dejected, and could scarcely carry on public affairs.
But the sweetness of your appeal to me yesterday, and the
radiant innocence of yr. countenance, entirely overcame me;
and convinced me that I had misapprehended the past, and that
the mutual affection, on wh. I had staked the happiness of my
remaining days, was not a dream.
248 LADY BRADFORD [CHAP, vn
March 21. . . . It [a letter Disraeli wished to show Lady
Bradford] will keep till my next visit after yr. return from
France, if you ever do return, and if ever I pay you another
visit. These things much depend on habit, unless there is a
very strong feeling such as sincerely actuated me when, last
year, I said I cd. not contemplate life without seeing you every
day. I feel very much like poor King Lear with his knights;
half my retinue was cut down before you went to Kimbolton:
' three times a week ' was then accorded me. When you return
from your foreign travel, wh. wonderfully clears the brain of
former impressions, there will be a further reduction of my
days; till, at last, the dreary and inevitable question comes,
'Why one?'
Don't misunderstand this. This is not what you call a ' scold-
ing.' It is misery: that horrible desolation wh. the lonely alone
can feel. . . .
I have given this morning the Constableship of the Tower
to General Sir Chas. Yorke, G.C.B. I keep the Isle of Man
still open : open till you have quite broken my heart.
July 4. . . . I hardly had a word with you to-day, and cd.
not talk of to-morrow! I wonder if I shall see you to-morrow!
Not to see you is a world without a sun. . . .
I wonder whom you will sit bet [wee] n to-day, and talk to,
and delight and fascinate. I am always afraid of your dining
at houses like Gerard's, in my absence. I feel horribly jeal[ous] ;
I cannot help it.
In such moods I sometimes read what was written to me only
a year ago tho' that's a long time words written by a
sylph, 'Have confidence in me, believe in me, believe that I am
true oh ! how true ! '
Even if one cannot believe these words, it is something to
have them to read and to bless the being who wrote them.
Make what discount we may for Disraeli's tendency to
extravagance and exaggeration, especially in his address
to women, it is impossible, after reading his letters to
Lady Bradford, to doubt the reality and depth, of his at-
tachment. During one year, 1874, we find such expres-
sions as the following : ' To see you, or at least to hear
from you, every day, is absolutely necessary to my existence.'
I 1 have lived to know the twilight of love has its splendor
and its richness.' ' To see you in society is a pleasure
peculiar to itself; but different from that of seeing you
SELINA, COUNTESS OF BRADFORD.
From a portrait after Sir F. Grant, P.R.A., at Hughenden.
1874-1875] SELINA 'THE MOON' 249
alone; both are enchanting, like moonlight and sunshine.'
' It is not " a slice of the moon" I want; I want it all.'
Playful references of this kind to the meaning in Greek
of Lady Bradford's Christian name Selina ' the moon '
are plentiful in the correspondence. In one letter Dis-
raeli explained the different nature of his feelings towards
the two sisters.
To Lady Bradford.
2, WHITEHALL GARDENS, Nov. 3, 1874. . . . I am sorry your
sister is coming to town. She will arrive when I am absorbed
with affairs, and will apparently be neglected and will probably
think so. This will add to my annoyances, for I have a great
regard for her. I love her, not only because she is your sister
and a link between us, but because she has many charming
qualities. But when you have the government of a country on
your shoulders, to love a person and to be in love with a person
makes all the difference. In the first case, everything that dis-
tracts your mind from yr. great purpose, weakens and wearies
you. In the second instance, the difficulty of seeing your beloved,
or communicating with her, only animates and excites you. I
have devised schemes of seeing, or writing to, you in the midst
of stately councils, and the thought and memory of you, instead
of being an obstacle, has been to me an inspiration.
You said in one of yr. letters that I complained that you did
not appreciate me. Never! Such a remark, on my part, wd.
have been, in the highest degree, conceited and coxcombical.
What I said was: You did not appreciate my love; that is to
say, you did not justly estimate either its fervor or its depth.
The affection between Disraeli and Lady Chesterfield had
none of the alternations of hot and cold that marked his
relation with her sister. Here there was steady warmth
and steady devotion; and he could always count upon con-
solation from her when, as often happened, he was rebuffed
by what he called Lady Bradford's ' irresistible, but cold,
control.' Though his passion was less, yet in his method
of address he was more ardent to Lady Chesterfield than to
the other. The letters to Lady Bradford generally start
without any prefatory endearments; but Lady Chesterfield
was ' dearest, dearest Lady Ches./ ' dearest of women,'
' charming playfellow,' and finally, in most of the letters
250 LADY BRADFORD [CHAP, vn
after the first year or two, ' dear darling ' ; and we find such
expressions as ' whatever happens to me in the world I
shall always love you ' ; and after an attack of gout at
Bretby, ' Adieu, dear and darling friend, I have no language
to express to you my entire affection.' It might not always
suit Lady Bradford to have him at Weston or Castle Brom-
wich ; but Bretby was constantly open to him, and his table
in London and at Hughenden was regularly furnished with
the produce of its gardens, its dairy, its poultry farm, and
its coverts. ' My dearest, darling friend/ he wrote on one
occasion to Lady Chesterfield, 'you literally scatter flowers
and fruit over my existence.'
To Anne Lady Chesterfield.
2, WHITEHALL GARDENS, March 6, 1875. . . . It is a long
time since [Contarini Fleming] was born some years before I
had the pleasure of meeting you at Wycombe Abbey, and fell
in love with your brilliant eyes flashing with grace and triumph
and wh. cd. hardly spare a glance, then, to poor me. But
now I am rewarded for my early homage, and, amid the cares
of empire, can find solace in cherishing your sweet affections. . . .
Such was the nature of the attachments that gave bright-
ness and colour to the last eight years of Disraeli's life.
It must not be supposed that there was in them any unfaith-
fulness to the memory of a wife who had herself laid on
him her injunctions to find consolation in others. He never
forgot her and his happiness with her; his poignant regret
and his loneliness without her are the frequent theme of
his letters. On one Queen's birthday during his great
Ministry he was looking with Lord Redesdale at the elaborate
preparations for his official banquet, ' when all of a sudden,'
his companion tells us, * he turned round, his eyes were dim,
and his voice husky, as he said, " Ah ! my dear fellow, you
are happy, you have a wife." He always maintained
the signs of mourning; the whole of his correspondence
with the sisters, as with others, save on a few occasions
when, being away from home, he had to fall back on local
stationery, was written on paper with a deep black edging ;
1873-1875] LADY BEACONSFIELD'S MEMORY 251
nor did he feel that there was any incongruity in inscribing
protestations of devotion to the living on pages which re-
called by their very appearance the memory of the dead.
To Lady Bradford.
HUGHENDEN MANOR, Sept. 27, 1875. . . . You said you were
glad to see ' white paper ' the other day. It is strange, but I
always used to think that the Queen, persisting in these emblems
of woe, indulged in a morbid sentiment; and yet it has become
my lot, and seemingly an irresistible one. I lost one who was
literally devoted to me, tho' I was not altog[ethe]r worthy of
her devotion; and when I have been on the point sometimes of
terminating this emblem of my bereavement, the thought that
there was no longer any being in the world to whom I was an
object of concentrated feeling overcame me, and the sign re-
mained.
Once perhaps twice during the last two years, I have
indulged in a wild thought it might -be otherwise; and then
something has always occurred, wh. has dashed me to the
earth. ... .
These new sentimental relations were springing up during
the second portion of the session of 1873, after the reluctant
return of the discredited Ministers to their places. In
the House of Commons Disraeli continued on the whole his
policy of reserve, assured that his opportunity must come
before long. His main political activity was behind the
scenes, preparing with his whips and his party manager for
a dissolution which could hardly be postponed beyond the
next year, rather than in the House itself where there was
not much contentious business.
To Montagu Corry.
April 5, '73. It will be impossible to get a Tory majority,
if lukewarmness, or selfishness of those who have a safe seat,
prevent contests. There are more than 30 seats in this predica-
ment, and I have appointed a small committee of men of social
influence to take them in hand: Lord J. Manners, Barrington,
Chaplin or Mahon.
I hope you are better. I am well enough, but wretchedly
low-spirited. . . .
252 LADY BRADFORD [CHAP, vn
To William, Hart DyJee.
HUGHENDEN MANOR, April 15, 1873. . . . Lady Derby writes
to me this morning, that she means to give assemblies on 29th
inst. and 6th May, and if somebody could send her a list of names
to St. Jas. Sqre., marked to be forwarded, she would work at
the list. If, therefore, you could forward her a catalogue of
the M.Ps., their wives and dau[ghte]rs, that 'she would do well
to invite,' business wd. be advanced.
I think, from what Miladi said to me when I last saw her,
that she wished a little discretion to be exercised in the trans-
action. An overplus of quizzes neutralises the distinction, and
it is better that she shd. be encouraged to give more parties than
to swamp her good intentions and make her feel her receptions
are a failure.
To Montagu Corry.
May 17, '73. The Government continues in a discredited
state, but we have not availed ourselves, as much as we ought
to have done, of several recent opportunities. The causes, or
probable causes, of this, I must keep till we meet. It seems that
the Ministry will totter through the session, though at present,
the decomposition of ' the great Liberal party ' is complete. It
still keeps, on the surface, together, from the hope, I think a
vain one, that ' something will turn up ' for them : the last
resource of imbecility and exhaustion.
I am not particularly well, and sent for Leggatt to-day, and
am now a prisoner, besieged by this scathing easterly wind. . . .
Such, incursions as Disraeli made in debate had a dis-
tinctly electioneering flavour. When the Budget was dis-
cussed, he delivered a lively attack on Lowe's finance, partly
with a view to deride that eminent anti-Reformer's pose as
the friend of the working man, and partly in the interest of
that relief of local taxation which the party had championed
with success in the previous year. But his most interesting
speech was made in opposition to Osborne Morgan's Burials
Bill, which proposed to open the parish churchyards to Dis-
senting funerals. His view was that by refusing to pay
church rates the Dissenters had publicly recognised that
the churches and churchyard belonged to churchmen; and
therefore if they wished to use the parish churchyards, that
use must be, by every principle of law and equity, upon
1873] ADVICE TO NONCONFORMISTS 253
the conditions imposed by those to whom they belonged.
He ended his speech by some earnest words of advice to his
Nonconformist fellow-countrymen. Lord Grey's Reform
Act, he said, had given them great power, which in many
cases they had used wisely.
So long as they maintained toleration, so long as they favoured
religious liberty, so long as they checked sacerdotal arrogance,
they acted according to their traditions, and those traditions are
not the least noble in the history of England. But they have
changed their position. They now make war, and avowedly
make war, upon the ecclesiastical institutions of this country. 1
I think they are in error in pursuing that course. I believe
it not to be for their own interest. However ambiguous and dis-
cursive may be the superficial aspects of the religious life of this
country, the English are essentially a religious people, . . .
They look upon [the Church] instinctively as an institution
which vindicates the spiritual nature of man, and as a city of
refuge in the strife and sorrows of existence.
I want my Nonconformist friends to remember that another
Act of Parliament has been passed affecting the circumstances
of England since the Act of 1832. It appeals to the heart of the
country. It aims at emancipation from undue sectarian in-
fluence; and I do not think that the Nonconformist body will
for the future exercise that undue influence upon the returns to
this House, which they have now for forty years employed. . . .
Let them not be misled by the last General Election. The
vast majority arrayed against us was not returned by the new
constituencies. It was the traditional and admirable organisa-
tion of the Dissenters of England that effected the triumph of
the right hon. gentleman. They were animated by a great motive
to enthusiasm. They saw before them the destruction of a
church. I do not think that, at the next appeal to the people,
the Nonconformist body will find that the same result can be
obtained. I say not this by way of taunt, certainly not in a
spirit of anticipated triumph. I say it because I wish the Non-
conformist body to pause and think, and to feel that for the
future it may be better for them, instead of assailing the Church,
to find in it a faithful and sound ally. There is a common enemy
abroad to all churches and to all religious bodies. Their opin-
ions rage on the Continent. Their poisonous distillations have
entered even into this isle.
i Miall, the Nonconformist spokesman in Parliament, regularly in-
troduced motions for the disestablishment of the English Church.
254 LADY BRADFORD [CHAP, vn
The Dissenters, distracted by the controversies over the
Education Act, were not a determining force in the 1874
election. But their enthusiastic support of Gladstone's bag
and baggage policy went far to settle the result in 1880, and,
a quarter of a century later, their campaign of passive
resistance was certainly one of the causes which helped in
the decisive overthrow of the Unionists under Mr. Balfour.
On the other hand, the life seems to have gone out of the
disestablishment movement, save in regard to Wales; and
it "is noteworthy that the Dissenters have never been able
to secure, during many years of Parliaments in which their
friends have always had a considerable majority, that
educational arrangement with a view to which they exerted
themselves so strenuously in 1906.
As the session drew to a close there was a painful out-
crop of administrative scandals mainly affecting mail con-
tracts and telegraphic extension. Disraeli, true to his prac-
tice of avoiding personal squabbles, took little or no part
in the discussion of matters which reflected seriously on three
important members of the Government. The main achieve-
ment of Ministers was the Judicature Act for the reorgan-
isation of the Courts of Law and Equity. A curious ques-
tion of privilege arose during the passage of this measure.
The Commons made an amendment which no less an au-
thority than Cairns declared to be a breach of the Lords'
privileges. It was rather a storm in a teacup, but it gave
Disraeli an opportunity to show his quality.
To Lord Cairns.
12, GEORGE STREET, HANOVER SQUARE, July 15. Misled by
Gladstone, who bewildered me in the most Jesuitical manner, I
dined at Grillion's, and lingered there, and was going home when
I heard Frdk. Cavendish, G.'s private secretary, say to Hardy
' about this time the privilege is on.' Hardy seemed astonished,
and maintained it was impossible. However I thought I would
go down to the House. I found it on, and nearly finished, and
G. was concluding when I entered, with my wits scarcely col-
lected. However, I went at it, and tho' I should have spoken
much better, if I had remained at the House, and went almost
1873] TORY SUCCESSES AT BY-ELECTIONS 255
breathless into battle, I still got the materials of the case fairly
out, and am now going down to the House to resume the fight
if G. chooses.
From Lord Cairns.
5, CROMWELL HOUSES, W., July 15, 1873. I think the dinner
at Grillion's must have been a most happy preparation for the
speech: at all events, nothing could, in my opinion, have been
more successful in at once putting before the House the sub-
stance and truth of the precedents; in maintaining the proper
attitude of the House of Commons on such an occasion; and
in covering the Govt. with ridicule for their terror-stricken and
undignified attitude.
As soon as the session was over Gladstone effected a
very considerable reconstruction of his Government. The
Ministers chiefly concerned in the Post Office irregularities,
of whom Lowe was one, could not remain longer in their
existing places ; and, in the course of the shuffle, Gladstone
took himself the Chancellorship of the Exchequer in addi-
tion to his previous office, and Bright, who had a year or two
before left the Cabinet owing to ill-health, re-entered it as
Chancellor of the Duchy. But nothing could stem the un-
popularity of the Government. They continued during the
autumn to lose seat after seat at by-elections : in August, at
Shaftesbury, East Staffordshire, and Greenwich ; in Septem-
ber, at Dover and in Renfrewshire; in October, at Hull;
and in December, at Exeter. Many of the vacancies were
caused by Ministerial promotions, so that the verdict of
public opinion was particularly marked and particularly
galling.
Disraeli went down to Hughenden before the end of
July, and spent a quiet time in examining and sorting his
own papers and his wife's; burrowing among those treas-
ures which have formed the basis of this biography. His
letters to old and new friends show both how he felt his
loneliness in the country home of his wedded life, and the
way in which he regarded the political scene, in which, for
many weeks, he refused to take an active part.
256 LADY BRADFORD [CHAP, vn
To Montagu Corry.
HUGHENDEN, July 30. I came down here with a resolve to
get the house in complete order, and worked yesterday to my
satisfaction. This morning I determined, with all the keys, to
grapple with the bird's nest imbroglio. The first thing I wanted
were her private papers, etc., which I thought were stowed in one
of the new tin boxes. I have opened four, all there, but cannot
find them: nothing, apparently, but scraps and chaos. I am
now exhausted, and have given up the task, for the day at least.
Can you throw any light on the matter? . . .
Aug. 1. . . . The Government really seems on its last legs.
'They can gain no laurels in the recess. That must be spent in
apologies, and explanations; especially of the discomfitures and
imbroglios of the last fortnight of the session. They will, prob-
ably, also lose every election, that occurs before the reassembling
of Parliament.
The weather here is delicious, and I have also plenty to amuse
me in the house, in trying to get the library into perfect order,
arranging pictures and so on; but my great business must be the
papers, and I am about to set at them again forthwith. I shall
not be content until the house is in perfect order. . . .
Aug. 3. . . . I found the missing papers, and continue at
work at their companions between two and three hours each
day. I cannot manage more. The progress is not encouraging,
but I feel, if I missed this opportunity in my life, I should
probably never have another.
She does not appear to have destroyed a single scrap I ever
wrote to her, before or after marriage, and never to have cut
my hair, which she did every two or three weeks for 33 years,
without garnering the harvest; so, as you once asked for some
of an early date, I send you a packet, of which I could not
break the seal.
There are missing at present two Russian sabres, which Lord
Strangford left me, and a long yataghan in a crimson velvet
scabbard. These arms were too long to be packed up with
the other daggers. Can you throw any light on them? You
can on most things.
Aug. 10. Hardy writes ' What does it all mean ? Dissolution,
or a more radical policy ? '
My opinion is, that instead of dissolution, it is merely a
diversion to escape dissolution, which was inevitable, had they
not done something. But their reconstruction is only a sham,
and the idea of being saved by the return of that hysterical old
1873] ARRANGING PAPERS AT HUGHENDEN -257
spouter, Bright, is absurd. As for a policy, they are much too
flustered to have any.
These great events are exciting, especially the elections, and
one wants something. The business of my life is a most melan-
choly one. I only finished arranging her personal papers yes-
terday: and she has died for me 100 times in the heartrending,
but absolutely inevitable, process.
To Lord John Manners.
HUGHENDEN MANOR, Aug. 28, '73. A letter from a friend is
like the sight of a sail to one on a desert isle ; but when it comes
from the best and dearest of friends, it is cheering indeed.
I have been here since the last days of July, and have never
been out of the grounds. With one or two casual exceptions, I
have never spoken to a human being. Among the casuals, be-
tween ourselves, was Sir Arthur Helps, on his way to Balmoral :
a royal reconnaissance. It is a dreary life, but I find society,
without sympathy, drearier.
As for my health, it is perfect. I have been often told, and
I have sometimes thought, that the bronchial disturbance from
which I suffered, was a gouty symptom: and so, two years ago, I
left off sugar, and with advantage. For a month and more I
have now lived without wine, and my cure seems complete
Some stimulus is requisite, but the Lord Rector of a Scotch
University has not far to seek for the necessary restorative, tho'
it must be kept a secret from the more delicate Southrons.
I am greatly amused with the fast-drifting incidents of the
political scene, and so, I suspect, are some others of higher
mettle. I don't suppose, that Gladstone, at present, has decided
on any course whatever, but he will not go out without attempt-
ing something. I hear he is deeply mortified by the utter
destruction of the prestige of his Administration, and that his
only thought now is to, what they call, re-habilitate it, before it
disappears. He will find this a hard task. . . .
To Lady Bradford.
HUGHENDEN MANOR, Aug. 29, 1873. . . . I hope your visit
to Windermere has been enchanting. They say the weather
has been fitful in England generally, but here we have had a
summer of romance
On Wednesday last, I received from the lady an announce-
ment of the immediately impending event, 1 ' as you have always
i Lady Cardigan's marriage to the Count de Lancastre. Lady Car-
258 LADY BRADFORD [CHAP, vn
taken so kind an interest in my welfare.' One can scarcely
congratulate, but may sincerely wish her every happiness. It
sounds very bad. . . .
To Anne Lady Chesterfield.
HUGHENDEN MANOR, Sept. 8, 1873. . . . I expected, when I
saw the Queen in March, the decomposition of the Ministry, but
it has been more complete than I contemplated. Had Gladstone
then gone out, uncommitted on either Church or education, and
the squabbles of his colleagues unknown, he would have gone
out with almost undiminished prestige, and would soon have
rallied. The firm is now insolvent, and will soon be bankrupt.
When the Tories return, it will be their own fault if their reign
be not long and glorious. j/". .
To Sir Stafford Northcote.
Confidential. HUGHENDEN MANOR, Sept. 11, 1873. You can-
not take too decided a line about Ashantee, barring prophecies,
like Lowe, of the indubitable failure of the expedition. The
great point to insist on, after indicating the dangers and the
chances of failure, is the want of analogy between the Ashantee
and the Abyssinian cases. What is the cause of quarrel? If
the Ash. want commercial access to the coast, wh. they always
used to have, their claim does not seem unreasonable : a matter
certainly that ought to admit of arrangement. . . .
The country is deadly to Europeans. Black troops may live
in it, but, then, they won't fight. But above all there are no
digan's story in her Recollections that Disraeli himself made her an
offer of marriage may safely be disregarded. Apart from the im-
probability of a statesman in Disraeli's position desiring to marry a
woman of a somewhat equivocal reputation, there were only eight
months between December, 1872, when he became a widower, and
August, 1873, when she married a second time in which a proposal
of marriage was possible from him to her; and these were months
when he was forming other attachments. She narrows the time still
more by placing the occurrence in the hunting season in other
words, very shortly indeed after Lady Beaconsfield's death. By way
of corroboration she states that she asked and obtained the advice
of the then Prince of Wales, whom she encountered at a meet at
Belvoir, whether she should accept; but, when the book was pub-
lished, King Edward told his personal friends that no such conversa-
tion had taken place. It is, of course, possible that there was a ques-
tion of marriage between Lady Cardigan and Disraeli in the sense that
she proposed to him and he declined. There is, certainly, in the
Recollections a striking exhibition of spite against Lady Bradford, as
well as a tendency to disparage Disraeli. Moreover, there is reason
to believe that there were other ladies of wealth and position who gave
Disraeli to understand, at this period, that they were ready to unite
their lot with his.
1873] POLITICS IN THE RECESS 259
prisoners to rescue. If we get there, what is the gain? If
we are beaten by the climate, wh. is on the cards, are we to sit
down with a defeat, or is there to be another expedition; more
lives thrown away and more money?
There cannot be a more unprofitable, and more inglorious
quarrel. All the motives of the Abyssinian expedition are want-
ing, and all the circumstances are different. Lord Derby writes
me that he met Lowe, who made no scruple of saying that he
had not been consulted, and did not know what his colleagues
were about! So much for Ash.!
As to the general politics, I think it highly desirable that you
should notice the misconception of my expression of the necessity
of our knowing the situation and engagements of the Govt.
before we could decide on our policy on several foreign subjects
of pressing importance. Nothing can be better than what you
propose to say on this head. As to our general policy, it is to
uphold the institutions of the country, and to arrest that course
of feverish criticism and unnecessary change, too long in vogue.
I would not too much insist on our policy being essentially de-
fensive, because they always make out that means being station-
ary. If pressed about reduction of county suffrage, or unable
to avoid it, take the ground that constant change in the distribu-
tion of power is in itself an evil; that the measure of 1868 is
only just digested; that it has been followed by the ballot, hardly
yet tried; that we have no reason to fear extension of the fran-
chise to properly qualified classes, but that any large increase
of either the boro' or the county constituency cannot be con-
sidered alone; that the latter must lead to a considerable dis-
f ranchisement of the towns from 30, [000] to 10,000 inhab. ; that,
tho' this may not be immediately unfavorable to the Cons, cause,
you are not prepared, without deep consideration and clear
necessity, to diminish, to a great extent, the influence of urban
populations in our system of Govt., being one favorable to public
liberty and enlightenment. . . .
For the last month, I have not interchanged a word with a
human being. It is a dreary life, but I find society drearier.
I have realised what are the feelings of a prisoner of State of
a high class: the fellow in the Iron Masque, and so on. I have
parks and gardens, and pictures and books, and everything to
charm and amuse, except the human face and voice divine. I
really have never been out of my own grounds. However, my
imprisonment is nearly at an end, for towards the close of this
month I am going to the Bradfords in Shropshire. I hope I
shall be able to behave myself in civilised society . . .
260 LADY BRADFORD [CHAP, vn
To Montagu Carry.
HUGHENDEN, Sept. 14, 1873. . . . All that we have seen, or
I have told you, of the correspondence, is nothing to what has
since transpired. I am amazed! I should think at least 5,000
letters in addition to all I had examined: and apparently, more
important and interesting than any. Nothing seems to have
escaped her. Many letters of Metternich, Thiers, Brougham.
I should say 100 of Bulwer : as many of Stanley, beginning with
Trinity College, Cambridge; enough of George Smythe for three
volumes, and I dare say not a line in them not as good as
Horace Walpole. The whole of Lady Londonderry's correspon-
dence I dare say 100 letters ! Among them, I saw a packet
more than a doz. from Butt. Many of D'Orsay : his last letter
written in pencil, just before his death, on hearing that I was
C. of E[xcheque]r and leader of the H. of C. The last letter
received from Lady Blessington a most interesting one. It
is the only one I have read: if I had once indulged in reading
them, I never should have licked them into any form.
To Lady Bradford.
BEDFORD, BRIGHTON, Sept. 24, 1873. . . . You will be a little
surprised at my date; but after two months of solitude, with
everything to charm except the greatest of charms, the human
face and voice divine, I thought London might be a relief. It
was intolerable, so I came down here. It might have succeeded,
for I found our friends, the Sturts, 1 here, and in the same hotel.
She is ever pleasing, and his wondrous rattle is as good as
champaign [stc] ; but alas ! she fell ill, and fancied it was the
fault of Brighton, and they went off at a moment's notice.
Yesterday the Brunnows found me out, and took me home to
dine with them, quite alone. I sate between the Ambassador
and Madame. No other guest, not even a soils-secretaire of
embassy. We had six servants in the room, and a wondrous
repast, which, as I live on a ' spare radish,' was rather embarrass-
ing. They were kind but it was not lively, tho' I was amused
by the great excitement of Brunnow as to English politics,
which he flattered himself he concealed. He was always re-
curring to the Dover election which made a great sensation
here. We had telegraphs of the poll every hour, and at ten
o'ck. they gave me a serenade, or a chorale, the most beautiful
thing I ever heard. No one knows who were the serenaders;
they say a private musical society. Not, certainly, the Christie
i Afterwards Lord and Lady Alington.
1873] FIRST VISIT TO WESTON 261
[sic'] minstrels, who all take off their hats to me when I pass:
which is awkward, as I was told I should be as unnoticed here
in September, as in the woods of Hughenden.
My kind remembrances to Lord Bradford.
I cannot express to you the delight I anticipate from seeing
you again. It seems to me that the only happy hours I have
had in this melancholy year are due to your charming society.
The visits to Lord and Lady Bradford at Weston and
to Lady Chesterfield at Bretby followed, and confirmed
him in his devotion to both ladies, though he protested to
a friend that he did not really enjoy this country-house visit-
ing.
To Lord Henry Lennox.
WESTON, SHIFNAL, Oct. 2, '73. . . . I hope you have not given
up your Bretby visit, and that we shall meet on Monday. I am
not very much inclined to it, and rather count on your help.
The fact is, visiting does not suit me, and I have pretty well
made up my mind, after this year, to give up what is called
society, and confine myself solely to public life. The only con-
solation I have is, that my health is good; as, doubtless, we
have some coming scenes, that will try both our nerves and
muscle.
I linger on here, boring and bored, notwithstanding a charm-
ing hostess, on whom I feel myself a tax. I could not make
my other visits * fit in without postponing my arrival at Bretby
for a couple of days. And this, I thought, under all circum-
stances, would be too great a liberty.
The Weston visit was notable for Disraeli's last experi-
ment in riding to hounds. He never rode at all at Hugh-
enden, and, indeed, is only recorded to have crossed a horse
twice in the past quarter of a century: once when Lord
Galway's guest at Serlby in 1853, and again when Lord Wil-
ton showed him the Belvoir hounds in 1869. 2 In these cir-
cumstances it argued great pluck in a man nearly sixty-
nine to accept an invitation to go cub-hunting at Chilling-
ton, five miles from Weston. He rode a little chestnut
hack, remained in the saddle three or four hours, and was
i One of these was to Knowaley.
* See Meynell's Disraeli, Vol L, p. 177.
262 LADY BRADFORD [CHAP, vn
so exhausted that he actually reeled against the stable wall
when he dismounted.
While Disraeli was at Weston, there was an election con-
test proceeding at Bath, the third in the course of the year.
At the beginning of the Parliament Bath had been rep-
resented by two Liberals. Both had died, one after the
other, this spring, and each seat in turn had been won for
the Conservatives. Now one of the new members, Lord
Chelsea, had succeeded to the peerage; and to Lord Grey
de Wilton, the Conservative candidate for the vacancy, a
personal friend of his own, Disraeli wrote for publication
from Weston on October 3 :
For nearly five years the present Ministers have harassed every
trade, worried every profession, and assailed or menaced every
class, institution, and species of property in the country. Oc-
casionally they have varied this state of civil warfare by per-
petrating some job which outraged public opinion, or by stum-
bling into mistakes which have been always discreditable, and
sometimes ruinous. All tbis they call a policy, and seem quite
proud of it; but the country has, I think, made up its mind to
close this career of plundering and blundering. 1
It was a full-blooded letter, conceived in the hustings
spirit, but it only restated, in pointed fashion, charges which
Disraeli had often brought against Ministers in public
speeches and across the table of the House of Commons.
A vehement outcry was, however, raised against its tone and
language ; and even many of his own party attributed to this
indiscretion Grey de Wilton's failure by a small majority
to retain the seat which Chelsea had won by a majority
somewhat similar. Disraeli, at any rate, was quite im-
penitent.
To Anne Lady Chesterfield.
HUGHENDEN MANOR, Oct. 24, 1873. . . . The storm against
my letter to Grey was quite factitious; got up by a knot of
clever Liberal journalists, who bad, they thought, an opportunity.
It has quite evaporated, and from the number of letters I daily
receive about it, from all parts of the country, and from the
i Disraeli had used the phrase before, in Coningsby, Bk. II., ch. 4.
1873] THE BATH LETTER 263
quotations from it daily cropping up in the press, I have no
doubt it will effect the purpose for which it was written.
I wished to give a condensed, but strictly accurate, summary
of the career of the Gladstone Ministry. There is not an ex-
pression which was not well weighed, and which I could not
justify by ample, and even abounding, evidence. Lord Salis-
bury, 1 and the Hull election, together, will effectively silence
my critics. . . .
Disraeli went in the following month to Glasgow, and
there defended himself in detail. Ministers might sigh,
he said, and newspapers might scream, but the question
was, Was the statement a true one? It was no answer to
say * Oh, fie ! how very rude ! ' He maintained that he
had written the history of a Ministry that had lasted five
years and had immortalised the spirit of their policy in five
lines.
The occasion of Disraeli's visit to Glasgow was that he
might be installed Lord Rector of the University, and might
thereupon deliver his address to the students who had
elected him two years before, but who had been deprived of
the treat of seeing and hearing him in the previous autumn
by Lady Beaconsfield's last illness. Many other functions,
however, were planned to welcome the man of the hour to
the Clyde. Writing to Lord Barrington a few days before-
hand he said the expedition was ' assuming colossal propor-
tions. . . . My plans assume that I shall return to England
alive; when I see the programme of the Glasgow week, it
seems doubtful. Nothing can be more inhuman ; and if there
were a society to protect public men, as there is to protect
donkeys, some interference would undoubtedly take place.'
Few statesmen were more qualified by sympathy and ex-
perience to give advice to youth. He had never ceased
to be young in feeling, and to feel for the young; and he
himself was a dazzling example of what resolute and as-
piring youth could achieve. He impressed upon his hear-
ers at Glasgow the necessity, in order to succeed in life, for
1 Who had written an article in the current number of the Quarterly
Review, strongly criticising ' The programme of the Radicals.'
264 LADY BRADFORD [CHAP, vn
two kinds of knowledge - first self-knowledge, and then
knowledge of the spirit of the age. Self-knowledge, he
told them, could not be obtained with certainty either in
the family circle, or from the judgment of one's fellows,
or from that of one's tutors; but from self-communion.
The young would make many errors and experience much
self-deception; it was their business to learn the lesson of
their mistakes, and to accept the consequences with cour-
age and candour. Only by severe introspection could they
obtain the self-knowledge they required and make their
failures the foundation of their ultimate success.
But self-knowledge was not enough. Without a know-
ledge of the spirit of the age life might prove a blunder ; a
man might embrace a profession doomed to grow obsolete,
or embark his capital in a decaying trade. It did not
follow that the spirit of the age should be adopted ; it might
be necessary to resist it ; but it was essential to understand
it. He considered the spirit of the mid-Victorian age in
which he spoke to be one of equality. So far as the word
stood for civil equality equality of all subjects before
the law it was the only foundation of a perfect common-
wealth, and had been largely responsible for British patriot-
ism and security. But there was also social equality, which
had been established by the Revolution in France, but which
recent events, in 1870 and 1871, showed not to be a prin-
ciple on which a nation could safely rely in the hour of
trial. And, further, there was the demand of a new school
for physical and material equality. t The leading principle
of this new school is that there is no happiness which is
not material, and that every living being has a right to
share in that physical welfare.' The school substituted the
rights of labour for the rights of property, and recognised
no such limitation of employment as resulted from the
division of the world into states or nations. ( As civil equal-
ity would abolish privilege and social equality would destroy
classes; so material and physical equality strikes at the
principle of patriotism, and is prepared to abrogate coun-
- 'T-
MR. DISRAELI AT GLASGOW UNIVERSITY, 1873.
From a drawing by Mrs. Blackburn at Hughenden.
18Y3] ADDRESS TO GLASGOW STUDENTS 265
tries.' Against this theory he appealed to the traditional
patriotism of his Scottish audience, and proceeded, in a
peroration which sums up his teaching on spiritual matters
in Tancred, Lord George Bentinck, the Sheldonian speech,
and Lothair:
It is not true that the only real happiness is physical happi-
ness ; it is not true that physical happiness is the highest happi-
ness; it is not true that physical happiness is a principle on
which you can build up a flourishing and enduring common-
wealth. A civilised community must rest on a large realised
capital of thought and sentiment; there must be a reserved fund
of public morality to draw upon in the exigencies of national
life. Society has a soul as well as a body. The traditions of
a nation are part of its existence. Its valour and its discipline,
its venerable laws, its science and erudition, its poetry, its art,
its eloquence and its scholarship are as much portions of its life
as its agriculture, its commerce, and its engineering skill. . . .
If it be true, as I believe, that an aristocracy distinguished
merely by wealth must perish from satiety, so I hold it equally
true that a people who recognise no higher aim than physical
enjoyment must become selfish and enervated. Under such
circumstances, the supremacy of race, which is the key of his-
tory, will assert itself. Some human progeny, distinguished
by their bodily vigour or their masculine intelligence, or by
both qualities, will assert their superiority, and conquer a world
which deserves to be enslaved. It will then be found that our
boasted progress has only been an advancement in a circle, and
that our new philosophy has brought us back to that old serfdom
which it has taken ages to extirpate. 1
But the still more powerful, indeed the insurmountable,
obstacle to the establishment of the new opinions will be fur-
nished by the essential elements of the human mind. Our
idiosyncrasy is not bounded by the planet which we inhabit. We
can investigate space, and we can comprehend eternity. No
considerations limited to this sphere have hitherto furnished the
excitement which man requires, or the sanctions for his conduct
which his nature imperatively demands. The spiritual nature
of man is stronger than codes or constitutions. No Govern-
ment can endure which does not recognise that for its founda-
tion, and no legislation last which does not flow from that
fountain. The principle may develop itself in manifold forms,
i A profound passage, which the history of the world since 1914
enables the men of to-day to appreciate.
266 LADY BKADFOED [CHAP, vn
in the shape of many creeds and many churches ; but the principle
is divine. As time is divided into day and night, so religion
rests upon the Providence of God and the responsibility of man.
One is manifest, the other mysterious; but both are facts. Nor
is there, as some would teach you, anything in these convictions
which tends to contract our intelligence or our sympathies. On
the contrary, religion invigorates the intellect and expands the
heart. He who has a due sense of his relations to God is best
qualified to fulfil his duties to man.
Disraeli brought to a close an address which had con-
tained many references to Greek and Latin authors by a
quotation, in the original Greek, of four lines from the Ajax
of Sophocles, containing the poet's acknowledgment of
Divine Providence. Other quotations from Greek plays
are found in Lord George Bentinck. Disraeli has been
accused of pretending, in these and other passages, to a
classical erudition which, he did not possess. But, as was
shown in Vol. L, ch. 3, he had attained while at school, and
in the year or more of private study which followed, to a
wide knowledge of Latin and a moderate acquaintance with
Greek ; and it is reasonable to assume that a man of letters
who, like Disraeli, rather ignored contemporary literature,
would refresh his mind throughout life by recurring to his
favourite authors of antiquity. He was at any rate suffi-
ciently familiar with classical literature, Greek as well as
Latin, to sustain a whole evening's conversation on the sub-
ject in the summer of 1880 with Northcote, a lifelong
scholar, upon whom he could not hope to impose with sham
knowledge, and who records the talk in his diary without a
suggestion that his chief was discussing matters which he
did not understand. Sophocles, in particular, he told North-
cote, he used at one time to carry about in his pocket.
So satisfied were the Glasgow students with the brilliancy
of their Rector's address and the lustre of his career that,
having originally elected him in 1871 by a large majority in
each of the four ' nations ' into which they were divided,
they paid him the unusual compliment of re-electing him
in 1874, in the same handsome fashion, for a second term.
1873] CONSERVATIVE LEADERSHIP 267
The Glasgow festivities included, besides the University
function, a municipal banquet with the Lord Provost in the
chair, the conferment of the freedom of the city, and the
presentation of an address by the local Conservative asso-
ciation. Every mark of respect and consideration was
shown Disraeli ; and the warmth of the popular reception
was unmistakable. He told Rose that ' Glasgow, without
exaggeration, was the greatest reception ever offered to a
public man : far beyond Lancashire even ! ' At the banquet
he touched with some grace on the question of the leader-
ship, now a purely academic one. He had led his party
in the Commons, he said, for twenty-five years, the longest
period of leadership on record. Peel had led the Con-
servative party there for eighteen years, though unfortu-
nately it twice broke asunder; and Russell's leadership of
the Liberals had lasted seventeen years, till at last it slipped
out of his hands.
Do not suppose for a moment that I am making these obser-
vations in a vain spirit of boasting. The reason that I have
been able to lead a party for so long a period, and under some
circumstances of difficulty and discouragement, is that the party
that I lead is really the most generous and most indulgent party
that ever existed. I cannot help smiling sometimes when I hear
the constant intimations that are given, by those who know
all the secrets of the political world, of the extreme anxiety of
the Conservative party to get rid of my services. The fact is,
the Conservative party can get rid of my services whenever they
give me an intimation that they wish it. Whenever I have
desired to leave the leadership of the party they have too kindly
requested me to remain where I was; and if I make a mistake
the only difference in their conduct to me is that they are more
indulgent and more kind.
A declaration at once modest, generous, and politic, but
giving perhaps a somewhat idealised version of the rela-
tionship between leader and party. His political address
to the local Conservatives was largely occupied with the
defence of the Bath letter ; but in his peroration he sounded
a warning note as to the contest that was proceeding in
268 LADY BRADFORD [CHAP, vn
Europe between the spiritual and the temporal power. It
would be the greatest danger to civilisation if in this strug-
gle the only representatives of the two sides should be the
Papacy and the Red Republic. England could hardly
stand apart. ' Our connection with Ireland will be brought
painfully to our consciousness; and I should not be at all
surprised if the visor of Home Rule should fall off some
day, and you beheld a very different countenance.' It
might be the proud destiny of England to guard civilisation
' alike from the withering blast of atheism and from the
simoom of sacerdotal usurpation.' Einally he adjured
Scotsmen to ' leave off mumbling the dry bones of political
economy, and munching the remainder biscuit of an effete
Liberalism.'
From Montagu Corry.
WESTON, SHIFNAL, Nov. 28, '73. The Duke of Richmond
tells me that nothing but regard for your time has prevented
!his obeying his impulse to write to you his warm appreciation
of the great speech of Saturday. He asked me to tell you this
at our next meeting, and also that all his correspondents agree
in declaring the satisfaction which it has given the party.
He further told me that none of your words at Glasgow had
afforded him so much pleasure as your remarks on your leader-
ship, which he thought well timed and in excellent taste. He
hopes the mouths may now be shut of those who, ' whenever
Lord Derby goes about starring at Mechanics' Institutes, etc.,'
. . . cry out ' Here is the man ! ' With such the Duke does
not agree, nor seems to deem the Earl better qualified to lead in
his own Chamber! . . .
To Lady Bradford.
KEIR, DUNBLANE, N.B., Nov. 26, 1873. You were right in sup-
posing that your letter was more precious to me than ' loud
huzzas.'
It has been a great week without exaggeration.
What pleased me, personally, most was the opportunity, forced
on me, of shattering all the hypocritical trash about my letter
to Grey. I call it the Weston manifesto, for it was written
under the roof that you inspire and adorn.
I rather long for rest, but have no prospect of it. I live on
the railroad and am now going to Cochrane's for a day, for I
could not resist his reproachful countenance any more. , , ,
1873] COUNTRY-HOUSE VISITING 269
To Gathorne Hardy.
BLENHEIM PALACE, WOODSTOCK, Dec. 12, 1873. . . . We have
a very gay and gorgeous party here, but the frost has stopped
all the hunting, and the fog has marred the shooting.
I attended the Princess yesterday on a visit to yr. constituents,
but the fog was so great, that we could neither see, nor be seen.
We lunched at the Dean of Xchurch, and I saw in the flesh
Jowett, M. Miiller, and Ruskin ! x That was something. M.
Bernard was also there, tho' I wonder he had an appetite for
any meal, even luncheon, after the quantity of dirt he has
eaten. 2
The Whigs here did not like Exeter. . . .
To Anne Lady Chesterfield.
HUGHENDEN MANOR, Dec. 15, 1873. . . . What with Glasgow.
iKeir, Lamington, Gunnersbury, lAshridge; Sandringham and
Blenheim, I have lived in such a whirl during the last month,
that I can hardly distinguish the places where I met persons,
and attribute the wrong sayings to the wrong folk.
I think the Government has quite relapsed into the miserable
condition they were in at the end of the session, and from which
the accession of Mr. Bright, and his sham programme, had,
for a moment, a little lifted them out. There will be no meas-
ures about reform, or land, or education, and I continue of the
opinion I expressed when I was at Bretby, that they will have to
dissolve in March. . . .
I was agreeably disappointed with Sandringham. It is not
commonplace; both wild and stately. I fancied I was paying a
visit to some of the Dukes and Princes of the Baltic ; a vigorous
marine air, stunted fir forests, but sufficiently extensive; the
roads and all the appurtenances on a great scale, and the splen-
dor of Scandinavian sunsets.
Disraeli interrupted his merely social visits to attend
a gathering of the party chiefs just before Christmas, at
Hardy's house in Kent. ' It is a meeting,' he told Lady
Chesterfield, l that usually takes place at Hughenden, but I
am not equal to the affair this year, with a broken household,
1 In a letter of the same date to Sir Arthur Helps, Disraeli wrote
of these three eminent men : ' The first does not look like a man who
could devise or destroy a creed, but benignant; the second all fire and
the third all fantasy' (Correspondence of Sir Arthur Helps, p. 360).
2 Professor Mountague Bernard had been one of the British Com-
missioners at Washington,
270 LADY BRADFORD [CHAP, vn
and with no organising spirit ; ' to Lady Bradford he pro-
tested, ' It is the sort of thing I abhor.' The date originally
suggested was December 15, but Disraeli wrote to his ' dear-
est Hardy ' : ( Pardon me all the trouble I am giving you,
but, as far as I am concerned, it must be the 16th. The pre-
ceding day is the anniversary of my great sorrow.' Besides
Disraeli and Hardy, Cairns, Northcote, Manners, Ward
Hunt, Taylor (the Whip), and Montagu Corry were pres-
ent. No definite conclusions were come to, Hardy tells us ;
and indeed the next move must necessarily be with the Gov-
ernment. But there was, no doubt, much interchange of
opinion on a subject which had for months formed the topic
of Conservative correspondence; namely, how to deal, when
the session opened, with the question whether the Prime
Minister, since his acceptance of the additional office of
Chancellor of the Exchequer, was any longer a Member
of Parliament, seeing that he had not, in compliance with
the statute of Anne, submitted himself to his constituents
for re-election. It is a question on which much can be, and
has been, said on both sides ; but which was deprived of all
actuality by the unexpected course which Gladstone took
before Parliament could meet.
To Lady Bradford.
HEMSTED PARK, STAPLEHURST, Dec. 19, 1873. . . . [Corry]
leaves me, I am sorry to say, on Monday for Savernake, so I
shall pass my Xmas alone. That is, however, not a great grief
to me beyond losing his society, as I never was a great admirer
of a merrie Xmas, even when a boy. I always hated factitious
merriment, in the form of unnecessary guzzlement, and those
awful inventions, round games, worse even than forfeits, if
that be possible! . . .
HUGHENDEN MANOR, Dec. 28, 1873. . . . I passed my Xmas
at Trentham in the enemy's camp, where I was taken captive;
but they treated me with great humanity, and spared my life,
which was valuable to me, as I had a prospect of seeing you.
They wished me to remain a week, but I gave them only two
days. I do not stay a week, except with those I love. The
page of human life is quickly read, and one does not care to
dwell upon it, unless it touches the heart,
CHAPTER VIII
POWEE
1874
The opening of the New Year found Disraeli still pursu-
ing a round of visits in country-houses, Crichel, Heron
Court, and Bretby ; strengthening the ties which bound him
to Lady Chesterfield and Lady Bradford; and busying
himself apparently almost as much about securing a perma-
nent residence in London as over the favourable political
outlook. By-elections continued to herald the doom of the
Government. Stroud and Newcastle-on-Tyne, both with a
long record of Liberal representation, polled in the early
days of the year, with the result that a Conservative took
the place of a Liberal at Stroud by a substantial margin
while the Liberal majority at Newcastle sank from 4,000
to 1,000.
To Anne Lady Chesterfield.
CRICHEL, WIMBORNE, Jan. 10, 1874. Lady Bradford gave me
your congratulatory message on the Stroud election ; much the
most important event of the kind that has yet occurred. I
observe even the Spectator acknowledges that to deny the
' reaction ' now is impossible and absurd.
I enclose you a letter on the subject from Sir Michael Beach,
a very able and rising man, and who threw himself into the
Stroud contest as Sir Stafford Northcote did into that of Exeter.
I agree with Sir Michael that, after Stroud, nothing ought to
astonish us. ...
To Lady Bradford.
BRETBY PARK, BURTON-ON-TRENT, Jan. 20, 1874. . . . I arrived
here yesterday at tea twilight, and the first words I heard were
' Selina is ill, and they are going to Bournemouth.' This so
knocked me up that I could scarcely perform the offices of
civility to my delightful hostess, and her guests who loomed in
271
272 POWER [CHAP, vm
the chamber, of ambiguous light, in the shapes of Wilton, the
Dick Curzons, and your friend the great General. 1 I ought
not to forget Carnarvon, whom I absolutely did not recog-
nise. . . .
I have not yet received an answer about Duchess 2 Eleanor's
house. What do you think of your sister's house in Hill St.?
She wants to let it. Would that do for me? They seem to think
that Whitehall Gardens has such a strong recommendation in
being near the Ho. of Commons. I doubt that. Hill St. would
secure a walk, which is something. Certainly I might find a
substitute, if in .Whitehall, by walking to the House of C. via
Belgrave Square, 3 which would not only secure health, but also
happiness, which is something also.
To-day's post informs me that I have succeeded in getting
rooms at Edwards's Hotel from Friday next, and I shall keep
them on till my plans for the season are matured. They are
miserable; merely a couple of rooms on the ground floor, but
they are a sort of headquarters, until I get a house, or commit
some other folly. . . .
Accordingly on Friday, January 23, Disraeli came up
from Bretby to his London hotel with the view of attending
on the Saturday a meeting of the trustees of the British
Museum, and also of deciding finally on his future house.
It still wanted nearly a fortnight to the date fixed for the
opening of the session ; and his intention was to return after
a week-end in town to his home at Hughenden. When,
however, he woke on the Saturday morning, he was greeted
by the momentous news that the Queen had been advised to
dissolve Parliament immediately, and that Gladstone, in ap-
pealing to the electors to give him a new lease of power, had
dangled before their eyes a surplus of several millions, and
promised therewith to abolish the income tax. ' I saw the
necessity,' Disraeli told Lady Bradford, ' of immediately
accepting the challenge of Gladstone, which of course he
counted on my not being able to do. But a political mani-
festo is the most responsible of all undertakings, and I had
not a human being to share that responsibility.' It was a
Saturday in the recess; he had only such conveniences at
1 J. Macdonald. Where the Bradfords lived.
2 Of Northumberland.
1874] DISSOLUTION OF PARLIAMENT 273
his disposal as two l miserable ' hotel rooms provided ; he
was without secretary, papers, or books ; and his colleagues
were all scattered. But, in spite of these disabilities, his
indomitable resolution and industry enabled him to issue
his reply to Gladstone's appeal on the following Monday
morning. A letter to Lady Chesterfield tells how it was
done.
To Anne Lady Chesterfield.
EDWARDS'S HOTEL, Jan. 27, 1874. I was quite taken by sur-
prise. Luckily, I was in London: as you perhaps remember,
I curtailed my visit to dear Bretby, and lost a day of your
charming society, in order to attend a meeting of the Trustees
of the Brit. Museum, whom the Government threatened with
some harassing legislation.
I was not up when my servant brought me The Times. Be
sure I did not go to the Brit. Museum, but, after carefully
studying the manifesto, instantly commenced a draft of answer,
as I felt everything depended on an immediate reply. Then,
I telegraphed to my secretary, Montagu Corry, who was at his
uncle's, Lord Shaftesbury, in Dorsetshire! to Ld. Derby, Lord
Cairns, Mr. Hardy, and Sir Stafford Northcote. Lord Cairns
and Mr. Hardy x soon appeared, my secretary at night ; and
working hard all the next day we got copies prepared for all
the Monday morning's papers. Our friends are much pleased
with my reply, and are full of courage.
It is too soon to speak with confidence either of details, or
probable result, of the election ; but, generally speaking, we are
well prepared, for there had been, during the last six months,
two occasions when dissolution seemed inevitable, so, with the
exception of five or six men abroad, all our candidates are at
work.
I have never had three days of such hard work in my life
as the three last; writing, talking, seeing hundreds of people,
encouraging the timid and enlightening the perplexed.
I will let you know, however roughly, how things go on. But
be of good heart!
The Derbys arrived on Sunday night, too late to assist me
i Hardy did not arrive till after the address had been settled by
Disraeli in conjunction with Cairns. ' I only had the advantage,'
Disraeli told Lady Bradford, ' of the critical counsel of my Lord Chan-
cellor, but he is a host.' Hardy suggested a few changes ' rather
verbal than of substance ' which Disraeli accepted. See Gathorne
Hardy, Vol. L, p. 334.
274: POWER [CHAP, vra
with his counsel with my address. I dined with them yesterday
alone. . . .
Think of me, and write to me, whenever you can, for I like,
in this great struggle, to feel I have friends whom I love.
Mem. I agree with Carnarvon that Gladstone] 's manifesto is
very ill-written, but I do not agree with Carnarvon that it is
not in his usual style. I think his usual style the worst I know
of any public man; and that it is marvellous how so consum-
mate an orator should, the moment he takes the pen, be so in-
volved, and cumbersome, and infelicitous in expression.
Many considerations had converged to drive Gladstone
to dissolution, of which the almost unbroken series of de-
feats in by-elections was perhaps the most operative, though
the outside world, and especially the Opposition, were dis-
posed to attribute most importance to the difficulty about his
seat in Parliament. But the immediate occasion was a
serious difference of opinion with Cardwell and Goschen,
the Ministers responsible for the defence of the country.
To realise his grandiose scheme of total abolition of income
tax Gladstone wanted, he told Granville, from three-quarters
of a million to a million off the naval and military estimates
jointly; and the two Ministers concerned sturdily resisted
his demands. There was no way out of the deadlock save
by dissolution ; but in the verbosa ei grandis epistola, occupy-
ing more than three columns of The Times, which Gladstone
issued to the electors of Greenwich, the country was never
told that, in order to realise the promised boon, it would be
necessary not merely to have an ' adjustment.' which Dis-
raeli interpreted to mean an increase of taxes, but also to
cut down the naval and military estimates seriously below
what the Admiralty and the War Office thought requisite
for national safety.
If Gladstone's manifesto was, as Disraeli said, ' a prolix
narrative,' Disraeli's answering address to the electors of
Bucks was rather of a negative character. Remission of
taxation, he observed, would be the course of any party
or any Ministry in possession of a large surplus ; and as for
Gladstone's principal measures of relief, the diminution of
1874] DISKAELTS ADDKESS 275
local taxation and the abolition of the income tax, these were
' measures which the Conservative party have always
favoured and which the Prime Minister and his friends
have always opposed.' For the rest, the improvement of
the condition of the people had been Disraeli's aim through-
out, in or out of office, but not by l incessant and harassing
legislation.' It would have been better if, during the last
five years, ' there had been a little more energy in our for-
eign policy, and a little less in our domestic legislation.'
After blaming the Ministry for their diplomatic action in
regard to the Straits of Malacca an obscure and intricate
matter, of little serious importance, which loomed largely
in election speeches and then disappeared and deprecat-
ing further extension of the suffrage at the moment, Disraeli
repeated his charge that our national institutions were not
safe in Liberal hands, and ended on the imperial note.
Gentlemen, the impending General Election is one of no mean
importance for the future character of this Kingdom. There is
reason to hope, from the address of the Prime Minister, putting
aside some ominous suggestions which it contains as to the
expediency of a local and subordinate Legislature, that he is
not, certainly at present, opposed to our national institutions or
to the maintenance of the integrity of the Empire. But, un-
fortunately, among his adherents, some assail the Monarchy,
others impugn the independence of the House of Lords, while
there are those who would relieve Parliament altogether from
any share in the government of one portion of the United King-
dom. Others, again, urge him to pursue his peculiar policy by
disestablishing the Anglican as he has despoiled the Irish
Church; while trusted colleagues in his Cabinet openly concur
with them in their desire altogether to thrust religion from
the place which it ought to occupy in national education.
These, Gentlemen, are solemn issues, and the impending Gen-
eral Election must decide them. Their solution must be arrived
at when Europe is more deeply stirred than at any period since
the Reformation, and when the cause of civil liberty and religious
freedom mainly depends upon the strength and stability of
England. I ask you to return me to the House of Commons
to resist every proposal which may impair that strength and to
support by every means her imperial sway.
276 POWEK [CHAP, vra
There is no doubt that Disraeli was well advised in basing
his main appeal on the desire of the electorate for rest, and
on their sense of wounded pride at the disrepute of their
country abroad. Great sections of the community were in
arms against the Government, moved either by resentment
at past treatment, or by fears for the future ; not merely the
landed interest, always Conservative in tendency, but also,
on the one hand, the clergy and an overwhelming proportion
of the laity of the Church of England, together with those
outside her pale who desired religious education in elemen-
tary schools, and, on the other hand, the brewers and the
licensed victuallers, whom Ministers had threatened with
even more stringent regulation than that which they had
carried through; a fortuitous but powerful combination,
which Liberals might deride as ' beer and the Bible,' but
which they realised would be very difficult to defeat. More-
over, some of the classes upon which the Liberals usually
relied were far from enthusiastic for the cause; the Dis-
senters were sore over the Education Bill, and the working
men were inclined to believe that their social aspirations
would meet with at least as much sympathy from a demo-
cratic Tory Government as from a politico-economic Lib-
eral Administration. In external affairs, the disregard with
which British representations had been treated in 1870 by
France and Prussia, Russia's contemptuous repudiation of
treaty obligations, and the humiliations of the Alabama
negotiations and award, had sunk deeply into the mind of
the country, and made men of different opinions unite in
a resolve to have a Government which should insure re-
spect for Britain among the nations of the world. The
bait of abolition of income tax was offered in vain to the
classes who would mainly benefit by it, as they were the
very classes who had most reason to be dissatisfied with
Ministers, and they did not believe that abolition could be
secured without readjustments of taxation which would
hit them equally hard. To many even among the Liberals
the mere offer of such a bait seemed a discreditable election-
1874] CONSERVATIVE EXPECTATIONS 277
neering manoeuvre; and the supporters of the Government,
as a body, were irritated by what appeared to them to be a
capricious and premature dissolution. The Conservatives
had the advantage both in organisation and in leadership;
Gorst's machine was in full working order, while the Lib-
eral caucus had not yet been developed; the popularity of
the l People's William ' J had temporarily waned, and the
eyes of the country were fixed on his rival, who had given
utterance at Manchester, the Crystal Palace, and Glasgow
to the ideas which were beginning to stir the nation's heart.
It seemed probable, therefore, that the General Election
would follow the lines of the by-elections and result in a
Conservative success. But the best judges on that side
dared not, in view of the long predominance of the Liberals
at the polls, place their expectations very high. Gorst's
estimate just gave them a majority, but so small a ma-
jority as to have left a Conservative Government at the
mercy of any malcontent section.
From John Eldon Oorst.
CARLTON CLUB, Jan. 30, 1874. Our estimate is as follows :
Cons. Had.
England .. ..271 .. 189
Wales .. ..10 .. 20
Scotland . . 12 . . 48
Ireland 35 68
328 325
Thompson thinks this is fair and reasonable: Taylor says
we have underestimated. We have been rather hard upon the
boroughs, but we have taken a sanguine view of the counties.
One feature of the elections, which disturbed the calcula-
tions of wirepullers, was the introduction of the ballot ; but
Disraeli's prediction in 1872 was absolutely verified that
* the Government which first appeals to the country on the
secret suffrage, will, in all probability, be cashiered.' Dis-
i This was the popular sobriquet for Gladstone in the early seven-
ties ; afterwards superseded by the ' Grand Old Man,' or ' G.O.M.'
278 POWEK [CHAP, vin
raeli's expectations during the contest appear from his let-
ters to Lady Bradford.
To Lady Bradford.
CARLTON CLUB, Jan. 27, 1874. . . . It is impossible to form
any opinion at present of the result of a General Election.
There has not yet been time to learn the feeling of the country.
But I see no signs of enthusiasm on the part of the Liberals, and
their press is hesitating and dispirited.
S.o far as the surprise is concerned, we are as prepared as our
opponents. There is no possible seat without a candidate. . . .
Wednesday, [Jan. 28] . . . I think things look well. What
sustains me is the enthusiasm among the great constituencies.
This was never known before. I shall be disappointed if we
do not carry both seats for Westminster and two for the City.
Chelsea even looks promising, and there are absolutely spon-
taneous fights in Finsbury and Hackney. Nothing like this ever
occurred before.
I am making no sacrifice in writing to you. It relieves my
heart; and is the most agreeable thing to me, next to receiving
a letter from you. Yours, this morning, gave me the greatest
pleasure. In the greatest trials of life, it sustains one to feel
that you are remembered by those whom you love.
I can truly say that, amid all this whirl, you are never, for
a moment, absent from my thoughts or feelings.
Thursday. . . . With two sons candidates, you certainly ought
to write to their chief every day. . . .
HUGHENDEN MANOR, Pel}. 1. Yesterday was a complete suc-
cess; to my content and you know that, as regards my own
doings, I am very rarely content. I think the Malacca Straits
will now be pretty well understood by all England and Mr.
Gladstone too.
I found on my table on my return at night tels. telling me
of three seats gained Guildf ord, Andover, Kidderminster ;
and two, which I thought lost, saved Eye and Lymington.
That looks well; but I will not indulge in hopes till I have
more information: much must be known which is not known
to me, for the telegraph will not work on Sunday.
Thursday [Feb. 5]. . . . This morning, I hear from the Man-
aging Committee that they now absolutely contemplate obtain-
ing a majority. I think it must greatly depend on this day,
which was always the critical one. If London and West[min-
ste]r follow Mary [le] bone, the situation will be grave. . . .
1874] CONSERVATIVE VICTORY 279
Polling began at the end of the last week in January;
and before the close of the first week in February the bor-
ough returns were known and were decisive of the general
result. The grant of household suffrage in boroughs, which
Salisbury had condemned as ' Parliamentary suicide ' for
the Conservatives, had been justified, as Disraeli always
maintained that it would be justified, even from a party
point of view. Gorst reported on February 6 : i If all the
elections were to go as we estimated at the time when we
made out a majority of 3, we should have a majority of 27.'
The city of London swung over to the Conservatives, Goschen
only coming in as the minority member, and Disraeli's
Liberal friend Rothschild suffering a final defeat; West-
minster followed the City; and seats were won at Chelsea,
Greenwich, Marylebone, Southwark, and Tower Hamlets.
At Greenwich Gladstone was only returned second on the
poll, below a Conservative ; ' more like a defeat than a
victory,' he wrote. Striking Conservative victories were
recorded in the great manufacturing towns, such as Man-
chester, Leeds, Bradford, Sheffield, Oldham, Newcastle-on-
Tyne, Nottingham, Stoke-on-Trent, Wakefield, Wigan,
Warrington, Stalybridge, and Northampton. In the Eng-
lish boroughs as a whole there was a net Conservative gain
of over thirty seats. No wonder the Liberals were in de-
spair at this revelation of the impression produced on
the working man by five years of Gladstonian government.
From Montagu Corry.
CARLTON CLUB, Feb. 6, '74. . . . There is a panic, I am told
at Brooks's: there was, I should say, for all is now bitterness
and despair. Wolverton 1 has fled from town in horror, and
the cry is ' They are in for years.' Gladstone is prostrate and
astounded, and his colleagues (in two cases at least which have
come to my knowledge) announce in their offices that the next
is their last week of power.
Wolverton's advice has caused the whole catastrophe, which
has caught a Cabinet in a fool's paradise.
The Carlton is crowded till midnight : all the dear ' old lot '
i The Liberal Whip.
280 POWER [CHAP, vra
whom we know so well all the frondeurs and the cynics, pro-
fessors, now, of a common faith cry for ' The Chief,' as young
hounds bay for the huntsman the day after the frost has broken
up.
You will have to come, next week.
We meet so soon that I say no more except to record what
I hear on every side, that the Newport Pagnell speech has im-
measurably influenced the events of the last 48 hours.
During the elections there was an oratorical duel between
Greenwich and Bucks ; and little attention was paid to any-
other speeches save to the thrusts and parries of the rival
leaders. These orations were not in themselves very re-
markable; though Disraeli's at least served their purpose
of heartening his party, and received cordial praise from
that one of his colleagues on whose judgment he most de-
pended. 'A splendid effort/ Cairns wrote of the first; of
another, 'your Newport Pagnell oration must certainly
stand at the head of all the election speeches of this, and
perhaps of any, crisis ' ; and the last he described as ' the
fitting topstone of the series.' One passage may be rescued
in which Disraeli distinguished between true and false
economy.
All Ministers of all parties are in favour of economy, but a
great deal depends upon what you mean by economy. I ven-
ture to say, that I do not believe you can have economical gov-
ernment in any country in which the chief Minister piques
himself upon disregarding the interests of this country abroad,
because such neglect must inevitably lead us into expenditure,
and an expenditure of the kind over which we have the least
control. We are in the habit of hearing it said (and nothing
is more true) that the most econqmical Government we ever
had was the Duke of Wellington's and why was it ? It was
because the Duke of Wellington paid the greatest possible atten-
tion, more than any Minister who ever ruled in this country,
to the interests and position of England abroad. . . .
But Mr. Gladstone's view of economy, or rather the view of
his own party and of the school which he represents, is of an-
other kind. He says ' The English people do not care for thei 7 *
affairs abroad. I don't much care for them myself, but I must
have economy. I must discharge dockyard workmen. I must
1874] HEAD OF THE POLL IN BUCKS 281
reduce clerks. I must sell the Queen's stores. I must starve
the Queen's services. I must sell the accumulations of timber
in the dockyards and arsenals. I must sell all the anchors be-
longing to the navy. I must sell ' which we were selling for
the first year or two ' half the ships in the navy.' And this
is economy
The county elections emphasised the tendency of the
borough returns. The home counties followed the lead of
London ; the Liberals were swept out of Middlesex, Surrey,
Essex, and Sussex, where the representation had hitherto
been divided. In the whole of this area, including, besides
the four counties already mentioned, Kent, Herts, Bucks,
and Berks, there were only three Liberal candidates re-
turned for county seats, the minority members for Herts,
Bucks, and Berks. Disraeli was for the first time at the
head of the poll, his old colleague Du Pre having retired.
The figures were: Disraeli (C) 3004, Harvey (C) 2902,
Lambert (L) 1720 all these elected, and Talley (LC)
151. Though the verdict of the metropolitan area was per-
haps the most outstanding feature of the elections, victories
were reported from counties in all parts of England, de-
spite the fact that the Conservatives already held the ma-
jority of the county seats.
The Conservative majority in England was over 110 ;
and substantial gains were even made in Liberal Scotland
(9) and in Liberal Wales (2). In Ireland a new situation
arose, more disquieting for the Liberals than for the Con-
servatives, though it involved the nominal loss of a few
seats to the latter. The first response of Ireland to Glad-
stone's remedial legislation had been a violent recrudescence
of crime ; the second, a revival in a more specious form of
the Repeal agitation, on the plea that the British Parlia-
ment was incompetent to remedy Irish grievances. This
movement was started by Isaac Butt, a distinguished Irish
lawyer, who had won popularity by his exertions in defend-
ing Fenian prisoners. He christened his new policy ' Home
Rule ' and invited all Irishmen, independently of party,
282 POWER [CHAP, vm
to join him. He had sat himself at Westminster in past
years as a Conservative, and had been one of the original
writers in Disraeli's Press; and Disraeli, at first, mistaking
the movement as merely one for local government, expressed
a wish to have in Parliament Conservative, as well as Lib-
eral, Home Rulers. The rapid spread of Butt's organisa-
tion, and the disintegrating doctrines which it preached,
speedily enlightened him as to its tendency, and he offered
it a strong opposition. Butt returned to Parliament at a
by-election in 1871 as a Home Ruler; and the new party,
under his guidance, took a material share in the rejection
of Gladstone's Irish University Bill. When the General
Election came, they won seats all over Ireland, heavily de-
feating Chichester Fortescue, who had been Gladstone's
Chief Secretary and right-hand man in Irish policy; and
at a meeting in Dublin they formally severed themselves
from connection with any British party. Ireland, which
in 1868 had sent to Parliament 67 Liberals and 38 Con-
servatives, was represented in 1874 by only 12 Liberals and
34 Conservatives, while there were 57 Home Rulers, con-
stituting an actual majority of the Irish representation.
The final figures of the whole election were: Conserva-
tives, 350; Liberals (including two representatives of La-
bour), 245; Home Rulers (among whom an appreciable
minority claimed to be Conservative), 57. While the Con-
servatives, therefore, had a majority of about fifty over all
other parties, they could boast, as compared with the Lib-
erals alone, of a balance of over a hundred: a position of
extraordinary strength and security.
As the returns came in, Disraeli's letters naturally be-
came more jubilant, in spite of his disgust at being forced
into an unnecessary contest in Bucks.
To Lady Bradford.
HUGHENDEN MANOR, Friday [Feb. 6, 1874], Amid 1000
affairs, I write to you one line. I have written to Lady Ches :
I am detained here by my contested! I election. No danger,
1874] SIZE OF THE MAJORITY 283
but great trouble when I have so much to think of and do, and
great and vexatious expense, for nothing. 1
My last accounts are that we have gained 40 seats, equal to
80 on a division, and have now a majority of 14 over Gladstone.
That majority will increase.
Amid all this, I continually think of you and of your grief,
and should like to wipe the tears from your eyes, for I feel
they flow. Bear up ! Francis 2 is young, and if we prosper he
will soon have his way.
I think of going up to town on Monday, but on Tuesday or
Wednesday I must be at Buckingham and speak. 3 This is
horrid !
Feb. 8. . . . Myself, I do not think the crisis so near as the
world does. I think he will meet Parliament, if only not to
imitate me. . . .
Our gains up to last night were 46 = 92 ; more than Peel
gained in 1841, and more than Gladstone gained in ]868.
I am very well, but sigh for moonlight. I think I could live,
and love, in that light for ever!
Thursday [Feb. 12]. . . . I hear from high authority that
the crisis is at hand, and that G.'s colleagues will not support
him in his first idea of meeting Parliament.
The Fairy 4 will be here on the 17th.
We shall have 50 majority; the strongest Government since
Pitt. . . .
If Ministers were about to follow the precedent of 1868
and resign at once without meeting Parliament, and if a
strong and representative Conservative Administration was
to be ready to take their place, no time must be lost on
the Opposition side in healing the breach caused by the
1 The expenses were subsequently met by a spontaneous movement
among Disraeli's constituents, anxious to show their ' pride and grati-
fication ' at the eminent position which their representative had
attained.
2 The Hon. F. Bridgeman, afterwards General Bridgeman ( 1846-
1917), was defeated at Stafford.
s It was in this speech that Disraeli, with office looming in the
immediate future, congratulated Bucks on having supplied four, or
(in some reports) five, Prime Ministers out of thirty in all. They
were George Grenville, Lord Shelburne, Duke of Portland (twice), and
Lord Grenville. Disraeli was himself a Bucks man by adoption.
* Disraeli's romantic imagination conceived of his Royal Mistrees as
the Faerie Queene of Spenser: and to his intimates he wrote of her as
'the Fairy,' or 'Faery.' See Vol. VI., ch. ' Beaconsfield and the
Queen.'
284 POWER [CHAP, vra
Reform policy of 1867. General Peel had retired from
Parliament and public life in 1868, and so had no longer
to be reckoned with. With Carnarvon Disraeli had just
re-established amicable relations through the good offices of
Lady Chesterfield, Carnarvon's mother-in-law. There re-
mained Salisbury, at once the most distinguished and power-
ful, and the most bitter, of the secessionists. He had, in-
deed, been working in general harmony with his old col-
leagues in the House of Lords throughout the Gladstone
Administration ; and had given cordial support to Disraeli's
lieutenant there, the Duke of Richmond. But his distrust
of Disraeli himself had apparently not abated. No direct
communication whatever had passed between them since they
parted in March, 1867 ; the overture about office in Febru-
ary, 1868, having been made through Northcote, and re-
jected in so summary a fashion as to close the door upon
amicable intercourse. Disraeli, who had been ready
throughout for reconciliation, had taken advantage of his
visit in December to Hardy's house in Kent to pay a friendly
call on Salisbury's sister, Lady Mildred Beresford-Hope,
whose husband's antagonism to him rivalled Salisbury's;
and, for a final healing of the breach, he now made use of
the kindly offices of the lady who was at once Derby's wife
and Salisbury's stepmother. Salisbury's main objections
of a public character had been met by Disraeli's refusal to
take office in a minority in 1873, and by the fact that a
Conservative Government in 1874 would have a secure
majority. Nevertheless, before consenting even to meet
Disraeli, Salisbury, we are told, went through a severe
mental struggle; but public spirit and a noble ambition
prevailed. Disraeli was so well aware both of the strength
of Salisbury's distrust and of his vital importance as a
colleague in office that until the meeting, which was at first
accidentally delayed, had been satisfactorily effected and
agreement reached, he did not disguise his anxiety.
1874] SUMMONS TO WINDSOR 285
To Lord Salisbury.
2, WHITEHALL GARDENS, Feb. 16, 1874. Lady Derby tells me,
that she thinks it very desirable, and that you do not, altogether,
disagree with her, that you and myself should have some con-
versation on the state of public affairs.
The high opinion which, you well know, I always had of
your abilities, and the personal regard which, from the first, I
entertained for you, and which is unchanged, would render
such a conversation interesting to me, and, I think, not dis-
advantageous to either of us, or to the public interests.
I should be very happy to see you here, at your convenience,
or I would call on you, or I would meet you at a third place,
if you thought it more desirable.
From Lord Salisbury.
BEDGEBURY PARK, CRANBROOK, Feb. 16, 1874. It would cer-
tainly be satisfactory to me to hear your views upon some of
the subjects which must at present be occupying your attention
the more so that I do not anticipate that they would be ma-
terially in disaccord with my own. I am much obliged to you
for proposing to give me the opportunity of doing so. In con-
formity with your suggestion I called on you this afternoon;
but I was not fortunate enough to find you at home. . . .
Just in the nick of time Disraeli found a house to suit
him in Whitehall Gardens, 1 within a short walk both of
Downing Street and of Westminster Palace ; and so he was
able to escape the inconveniences of an hotel, and, as he told
Lady Bradford, ' live again like a gentleman.' To White-
hall Gardens he came up before the close of the second week
in February, and in private conferences with his principal
counsellors, Derby, Cairns, and Hardy, settled the general
plan of his Ministry, so that he was fully prepared when
General Ponsonby arrived with the expected message on the
evening of Tuesday the 17th. Ponsonby found him ' much
more open, lively, and joyous ' than at the crisis in the
preceding year; not concealing his delight at the astonish-
ing majority, which had shown, he claimed, how correct
was the information on which he wrote the Bath letter.
i No. 2, Whitehall Gardens has in recent years become, very appro-
priately, the office, first, of the Committee of Imperial Defence, and,
afterwards, of Mr. Lloyd George's War Cabinet,
286 POWEK [CHAP, vra
From, Queen Victoria.
WINDSOR CASTLE, Feb. 17, '74. The Queen has just seen Mr.
Gladstone, who has tendered his resignation and that of his
colleagues, which she has accepted. She therefore writes to
Mr. Disraeli to ask him to undertake to form a Government.
The Queen would wish to see Mr. Disraeli here at J /2 P a st 12
to-morrow morning.
To Lady Bradford.
Y^ to 7 o'cTc., Tuesday, Felt. 17. General Ponsonby, who
brought me a letter from the Queen, has just left me. I go down
to Windsor to-morrow morning at 11 o'ck.
I have seen Lord Salisbury, who joins the Government.
Disraeli knew that a cordial welcome awaited him at
Windsor. Lady Ely had written to him on the Monday:
' My dear mistress will be very happy to see you again,
and I know how careful and gentle you are about all that
concerns her. I think you understand her so well, besides
appreciating her noble fine qualities.' The Queen was in
sympathy with the country in desiring a less harassing
time in domestic legislation, and a prouder outlook in for-
eign affairs ; and she had a pleasant recollection of the care
for her wishes and her honour which had marked Disraeli's
short Administration in 1868.
Memorandum by Queen Victoria.
Feb. 18. Mr. Disraeli came at J /2 P- 12. He expressed great
surprise at the result of the elections. He had thought there
might have been a very small majority for them ; but nothing
like this had been anticipated, and no party organisation cd.
have caused this result of a majority of nearly 64. Not since
the time of Pitt and Fox had there been anything like it. Even
in '41 when such a large majority had been returned for Sir R.
Peel, it had not been so extraordinary, because he had had a
small majority. It justified, he said, the course he had pursued
last March in declining to take office. . . . Sir J. Pakington
Providence had disposed of, 1 as he amusingly said. . . . He was
anxious to bring as much new talent and blood into the Govt.
as possible. . . . He repeatedly said whatever I wished shd. be
done whatever his difficulties might be!
i Pakington was defeated at Droitwich, and raised to the peerage as
Lord Hampton.
1874] FORMING AN ADMINISTRATION 287
Disraeli returned from his audience of the Queen with
his Cabinet fully matured and provisionally approved, and
he gave an account of his arrangements to the colleague who
had now for four years led the Conservative party in the
Lords.
To the Duke of Richmond,
Private. WHITEHALL GARDENS, Feb. 18, 1874. I had an audi-
ence of the Queen to-day at Windsor, from which I have this
moment returned, when Her Majesty directed me to form an
Administration and invited my views, how the Cabinet was to
be constructed.
I said, that I thought it ought not to be too large, that it
should not exceed 12 members and that they might be divided
equally between the two Houses.
I proposed that your Grace should take the lead and manage-
ment of the House of Lords, in which you have been successful,
with the post of Lord President, supported by the Lord Chan-
cellor, and three Secretaries of State, namely Foreign, Indian,
and Colonial, filled by Lords Derby, Salisbury, and Carnarvon
respectively; that these secretaryships, not being departments
connected with the great branches of expenditure, might fairly
be placed in the Lords: and, with the Privy Seal, that would
account for a moiety of the Cabinet.
In the Commons, [that] the Treasury would be represented by
myself, and Sir Stafford Northcote as Chancellor of Exchequer,
and that the two great spending departments of Army and Navy
I proposed to entrust to Mr. Hardy and Mr. Hunt, as it was
impossible to sustain debate in the Commons, if these great
offices were represented by little men.
It would be necessary to introduce '-a stranger to public, or
rather official, life for the office of Home Secretary, and I
mentioned for Her Majesty's consideration the name of Mr.
Cross, the Member for Lancashire.
Lord John Manners would, as Postmaster-General, complete
the other moiety.
The Queen will consider all this, and I shall hear from her
probably this evening, but Her Majesty viewed the scheme fa-
vorably, and I am now going to communicate it to my con-
templated colleagues. I earnestly hope that you, and they, may
also favorably receive it, as I count much upon your support. . . .
This is rather a rough epistle, but I have had rather a rough
day. Excuse its shortcomings, and believe me, that it is writ-
ten with a sincere and anxious desire to secure for the Queen
288 POWER [CHAP, vm
a valuable servant, and for us all a colleague, whom we greatly
regard, and highly respect and esteem.
The formation of the Cabinet proceeded without friction
among Disraeli's colleagues. Malmesbury, who became
Privy Seal, expressed a very general feeling in his letter of
acceptance. ' In the almost unexampled importance of
your present position you must, at any sacrifice of your
personal predilections, look, not to the past services, but
to the future usefulness of your colleagues.' The Cabinet
accordingly was constituted as follows :
First Lord of the Treasury B. DISRAELI.
Lord Chancellor. . . . LORD CAIRNS.
Lord President DUKE OF RICHMOND.
Lord Privy Seal EARL OF MALMESBURY.
Home Secretary RICHARD A. CROSS.
Foreign Secretary EARL OF DERBY.
Colonial Secretary EARL OF CARNARVON.
War Secretary GATHORNE HARDY.
Indian Secretary MARQUIS OF SALISBURY.
Chancellor of the Exchequer Sm STAFFORD NORTHCOTE.
First Lord of the Admiralty. ..... G. WARD HUNT.
Postmaster-General LORD JOHN MANNERS.
Wisely restricted to the very manageable number of
twelve persons, 1 it was as strong and capable a Cabinet as
has ever taken over the government of this country. In
its chief it had the most arresting figure in politics since the
death of Pitt ; in Salisbury a man who was destined to hold
in the future a place in history little less than his chief,
and who was even then recognised as of unlimited promise.
Besides these two there were four statesmen, not unequal
to the first place if fortune should accord it to them
Cairns, Derby, Hardy, and Northcote; five more who had
given proofs, either of character or of cleverness or of ad-
ministrative ability beyond the common Richmond,
Malmesbury, Carnarvon, Hunt, and Manners ; and one new
man Cross, who was to administer the Home Office in
such fashion as to set a shining example to future Govern-
i Gladstone's Cabinet had numbered fifteen.
1874] THE CABINET 289
ments. Little difficulty was found in allotting the depart-
ments. Cairns, Malmesbury, Derby, Carnarvon, and Salis-
bury went naturally back to the offices which they had filled
in one or other of the Cabinets of 1866-68, and where
Cairns and Derby at least had served with much distinction.
For Richmond, as leader of the Lords, the Presidency of the
Council was a suitable post. Northcote, the only financier
in the Commons capable of coping with Gladstone, was in
his right place at the Exchequer, where, but for the Abyssin-
ian War, he would have been sent in 1868 ; and it was wise
to allot to Hardy, perhaps the most successful administrator
as well as the most fervid orator of the party, the delicate
task of conducting the military forces of the Crown through
the transition period inaugurated by the Cardwell reforms,
with a view to their transformation into an army of modern
type. There was, indeed, no- particular reason why Ward
Hunt, whose reputation had been gained at the Treasury,
should have been sent to administer the Admiralty; and
there may be some who, remembering Hunt's enormous
size and physical weight, will suspect Disraeli of having had
a double meaning when he wrote to Richmond that a great
office like that of First Lord should not be represented by
a little man. Manners, too, was perhaps a square peg in
a round hole with a business department like the Post
Office ; and he told Disraeli he was ' rather apprehensive '
of not fulfilling expectations. Cross's appointment was the
natural outcome of the substantial support given by his na-
tive Lancashire to the Conservative cause ; his qualifications,
as lawyer and man of affairs, were vouched for by the Lan-
cashire magnate, Derby, and had been recognised by Dis-
raeli on his Manchester excursion.
A galaxy of ability in a Cabinet does not always promote
efficiency. Unless Ministers are deeply imbued with loy-
alty to a cause or a chief, their individual cleverness may
indeed tend to resolve them into a chaos of jarring atoms.
But this Cabinet was bound together by strong confidence
in its chief. There were only two men, Salisbury and
290 POWEK [CHAP, vm
Carnarvon, who entered it with any misgiving ; and there is
evidence that Salisbury, at any rate, having once, though
with difficulty, brought himself to come in, sought loyally
from the first for points of agreement rather than of differ-
ence, and did his utmost to make the combination a success.
For the rest of the Cabinet, four of them Derby, Manners,
Malmesbury, and Northcote were bound to Disraeli by
ties of long-standing personal friendship and political com-
panionship^ and though the intimacy with Cairns and Hardy
was more recent, the friendship and mutual confidence were
almost equally strong. With Richmond as leader in the
Lords there had been four years of harmonious working;
and Hunt and Cross owed their promotion to their chiefs
appreciation of their ability.
If the Cabinet was capable and united, there were men
of note in responsible positions outside. The most rising
of the new men, Sir Michael Hicks Beach, whose exclusion
from the Cabinet was almost accidental, became Chief Sec-
retary for Ireland. A first-class man of business, William
Henry Smith, was appointed Secretary of the Treasury;
and in Lord George Hamilton Disraeli discovered a young
man who justified his discernment, and who proved adequate
to the heavy task of representing India in the House of
Commons. Lord George had been offered the Under-Sec-
retaryship for Foreign Affairs, but had been doubtful of his
French : Disraeli assured him that at the India Office there
would be no necessity of speaking either Hindustani or
Persian. Sir John Karslake and Sir Richard Baggallay
were the law officers ; not perhaps quite so admirable a com-
bination as that which succeeded them in the later years
of the Government, Sir John Holker and Sir Hardinge
Giffard. In Hart Dyke Disraeli had a most efficient Chief
Whip. The Lord-Lieutenancy of Ireland proved a diffi-
culty, as often before and since. The Duke of Abercorn,
who had filled the post with such distinction from 1866 to
1868, at first refused it ; but after ineffectual attempts had
been made to obtain the services first of the Duke of Marl-
1874] LORD H. LENNOX OFFENDED 291
borough, and then of the Duke of Northumberland, he was
pressed to reconsider his decision and ultimately consented.
The government of Scotland was placed in the capable hands
of Lord-Advocate Gordon, whose mettle Disraeli had al-
ready proved.
No statesman ever succeeded in forming a Ministry
without giving more or less serious offence in some quar-
ter. There was a clever friend of Disraeli's, who as a young
man had been one of his discoveries, but who, owing to a
certain instability of character, had hardly fulfilled an-
ticipations. Him Disraeli approached in the most tactful
and conciliatory manner, making him an offer somewhat
above his deserts, but decidedly below his hopes.
To Lord Henry Lennox.
WHITEHALL GDNS., Feb. 19, '74. The Queen said to me yes-
terday, that there was one office which she was always anxious
about, and that was the President of the Board of Works: it
touched her more personally than most.
When I told Her Majesty, that I contemplated recommending
her to appoint you, she appeared relieved, and pleased.
It is an office with a great deal of work; but agreeable work.
It gives room for the exercise of your taste and energy. The
parks, the palaces, and the public buildings of London, under
your rule, will become an ornament to the nation, and a credit
to the Government, of which, I trust, you will thus become a
member.
Lennox, who had set his heart on Cabinet rank very
unreasonably, considering that his brother, the Duke of
Richmond, was bound to be of the number was deeply
hurt. Though he accepted the post and kept up the forms
of the old affectionate friendship with Disraeli, he * never
forgave the indignity,' and spoke of his chief to others with
* venomous acerbity.' Such is the testimony of Lord
Redesdale, who as Bertram Mitford served as Secretary
to the Board of Works under Lennox's presidency, and who
was himself deeply attached to Disraeli. Lennox's ad-
ministration was not a success, caused Disraeli frequent
worry, and came to a premature end.
292 POWEE [CHAP, vm
' The first thing after the Cabinet is formed is the House-
hold/ remarked a magnate in Coningsby. To this delicate
part of his task, so interesting to the great people among
whom he moved, Disraeli's mind was directed on his very
first audience of the Queen; as he hoped by a Household
appointment to gratify the wishes of his dearest friend.
To Lady Bradford.
WINDSOR CASTLE, Feb. 18, 1874. It is doubtful whether I
shall see you to-day, for a tremendous pressure awaits me when
I get back to town ; which I think may be about J /2 past 4 or 5 ;
but I hope to try in the evening.
What you suggested in your note of this morning had already
occurred to me, some days ago ; but the difficulties are immense,
as you will see when we meet. Yet they will, I trust, be over-
come, for I am influenced in this matter by a stronger feeling
even than ambition.
To Anne Lady Chesterfield.
2, WHITEHALL GARDENS, Feb. 21. Yesterday I kissed hands,
and to-day I take down Carnarvon to Windsor and make him a
Secy, of State, which, I hope, will please you.
Bradford is Master of the Horse, and Selina will ride in royal
carriages, break the line even in the entree, and gallop over all
Her Majesty's lieges. I see a difference already in her de-
meanor. . . .
It was in the course of the formation of the Household
that Disraeli was first brought face to face with a thorny
problem, which was to divide his Cabinet in their first
session, and to range against the Government a section of
the community who should have been among the firmest
upholders of Conservatism. The spread of Ritualism was
a marked feature of the day, and one specially repugnant
to the Queen ; who refused to admit advanced High Church-
men into that personal service to herself which the House-
hold involved unless they undertook not to take a prominent
part in Church politics. Disraeli turned in this difficulty
to the leading High Churchman in his Cabinet.
1874] DIFFICULTY ABOUT THE HOUSEHOLD 293
To Lord Salisbury.
2, WHITEHALL GARDENS, Feb. 22, 1874. You were very right
in saying, that the only obvious difficulties we should have in
our Govt. would, or rather might, be religious ones.
Last night, the Queen, while accepting the appointment of
Beauchamp as a favor to myself, requires that there shall be an
undertaking from him, that he will take no prominent part in
Ch. politics.
It is very desirable, Her Majesty adds, that this condition
should be clearly understood, as she looks upon the views of the
Ch. party with wh. Ld. B. is connected, as detrimental to the
interests of the Oh. of England, and dangerous to the Protestant
religion.
The Queen, therefore, could give no countenance to that party
by admitting a prominent member of it into the Royal House-
hold.
This morning comes another letter. She hears with regret,
that Lord Bath is as bad, as Lord Beauchamp : consequently, the
same restrictions must be put upon him as on Lord Beau., etc.,
etc.
I shall say nothing to Beauchamp myself, lest he throw up
!his appointment in an ecclesiastical pet, wh. would be only cut-
ting his own throat, and whatever may be his faults of manner
and temper, he is a thorough good fellow, as, I believe, we both
feel.
But I wish you would consider all this, and give me your
advice. You might perhaps say things as a friend to him, wh.
might be harder to bear from an official chief. I think with
tact, and a thorough understanding between you and myself, the
ship may be steered thro' all these Church and religious sand-
banks and shallows, but I see that vigilance is requisite. Greater
trials will arise than the appointment of a Lord Steward or a
Lord Chamberlain.
From Lord Salisbury.
Confidential. 20, ARLINGTON STREET, S. W., Feb. 22, '74.
I will speak, if you think it desirable, to both Bath and Beau-
champ on this point. I am sure they will feel it a matter of
duty not to put themselves forward in Church matters in a sense
disapproved of by the Queen, so long as they are so closely con-
nected with her immediate service. The argument if I may
venture to suggest it which will weigh with her most strongly,
I believe, against too decided measures, is that this Ritualist
party, though not preponderant in numbers, is numerous enough,
294 POWER [CHAP, vra
if it goes against the Establishment, to turn the scale. It is
earnest, to fanaticism : it sits loosely to the Establishment, as
matters stand: and if driven by any act of serious aggression,
will listen to its most reckless advisers and throw itself on the
Free Church side. A disruption in England will not perhaps
take place for so light a matter as that which took place in
Scotland. But, if it does take place, it will bring the whole
fabric of the Church down about our ears.
Of course this applies to graver matters than Household places.
Mere discountenance will do little harm: but I should look with
the' gravest alarm to any action on the part of the Legislature.
The Bishops are at some work which may be dangerous moved
by Ellicott, 1 who is an unsafe guide. I hope in such matters
you will take counsel with the Bishops whom you and Lord
Derby placed upon the Bench. They are all I think sound men.
Salisbury's advice was in the main judicious, and for the
moment Disraeli was apparently disposed to accept it, as
he passed it on to his royal mistress, to whom it was ex-
tremely unpalatable.
To Queen Victoria.
2, WHITEHALL GARDENS, Feb. 23, 1874. Mr. Disraeli with his
humble duty to your Majesty:
Your Majesty may rest assured, that your Ministry will do
everything in their power to discountenance the Ritualist party.
Much may be done in that way, particularly if done by a Min-
istry that is believed to be permanent. Any aggressive act of a
legislative character will only make martyrs and probably play
the game of the more violent members of the party. . . .
Feb. 28. . . . Your Majesty's Household is now complete and
need not fear competition with the Royal Household formed by
any Ministry, either in your Majesty's happy reign, or in those
of your royal predecessors.
Mr. Disraeli thinks it of importance, that the high nobility
should be encouraged to cluster round the throne.
1 To change back the oligarchy into a generous aristocracy
round a real throne ' had been one of the aims of ' Young
England ' ; and Disraeli no doubt felt he was fulfilling at
least part of his earlier aspirations when he placed round
the person of his Sovereign the heads of the houses of Cecil
i Bishop of Gloucester and Bristol.
1874] TROUBLES OF MINISTRY-MAKING 295
(elder branch), Seymour (younger branch), Bridgeman,
and Lygon, the heir of the Percies, a Wellesley, and a Som-
erset; while in the Cabinet and in important positions out-
side there were the representatives of the Stanleys, Ham-
iltons, Lennoxes, Herberts, and Cecils (younger branch),
besides a Manners, a Lowther, a Bentinck, and a Bourke;
the house of Churchill failing to be represented only be-
cause its head had declined for family reasons the Lord-
Lieutenancy of Ireland.
Hardy describes Disraeli during the process of Ministry-
making as ' in a whirl, much excited and tired of all his
disagreeable duty.' But though the business tired him,
and drove him at its close to Brighton to recruit his strength,
there can be no doubt that he took a keen and justifiable
pleasure in his first uncontrolled exercise of the patronage
of the Crown, and especially in the opportunity it gave him
of finding suitable positions for those of his friends whom
he knew to be competent. We get an insight into his feel-
ings from his letters to Lady Bradford.
To Lady Bradford.
2, WHITEHALL GARDENS, S. W., Feb. 27, 1874. What with the
drawing-room yesterday and a crowd of interviews afterwards
in Downing St., and endless letters, I could not find time to
write the only lines which really interested me to her, who
is rarely absent from my thoughts and never from my heart.
It has been an awful affair altogether, but it is now done,
and on Monday next there will be a Council at Windsor, when
we shall appoint the Lord Lieut [enan]t of Ireland, and swear
in, and sanction, all the remaining members of the Govt. The
Queen did not settle about the Chamberlainship till midnight
on Wednesday. I had retired when the box arrived, but was
roused at 6 o'ck. a.m. with the news of the capture of Coomassie, 1
which I sent on to H.M. immediately with three dashes under the
word ' Important ' on the label. She had been very low the
night before about the first news.
The Government is a very strong Government, and gives much
satisfaction. I have contrived, in the minor and working places,
to include every ' representative ' man, that is to say every one
i The Ashantee capital.
296 POWEE [CHAP, vra
who might be troublesome. Clare Read and Sir Massey Lopes
have enchanted the farmers, and I have placed Selwin Ibbetson,
Jem Lowther, Cavendish Bentinck, and all those sort of men who
would have made a Tory cave. There are some terrible disap-
pointments, but I have written soothing letters, which on the
whole have not been without success.
I am not very well. I rather broke down yesterday, having
had some warnings, but I can keep quiet now till Monday. . . .
Montagu [Corry] is with me here as much as he can, but, be-
tween dead and living sisters, not as much as I wish. Since you
left town, I have never dined out. There is plenty to occupy
me in the evening, for my table is covered with despatch boxes,
all of which must be attended to. In ordinary affairs, these
can be managed, even with a Ho. of Commons, but there is noth-
ing so exhausting as the management of men my present life
except perhaps the management of women; and I make little
progress at night. /
I shall always consider it most unfortunate, I would almost
say unkind, that you quitted town at this conjuncture the
greatest of my life. I do not think I could have deserted you;
but I will only say, Adieu.
March 1. The Queen is delighted with the Household ap-
pointments in the Commons; Ld. Percy, Treasurer; Ld. Henry
Somerset, Comptroller; Barrington, V.-Chamberlain. She says
I ' rejoice ' they have accepted these posts. . . .
I am a prisoner to-day, but I hope I shall be all right to-
morrow and get to Windsor: then my indisposition will not
transpire. I have had a great many visitors to-day, among them
the Master of the Horse.
I have been writing consolation letters all the morning
among them to Cochrane. 1
I should not be surprised were the Und. Secy, of War to be
the Earl of Pembroke! 2 but this is a real secret, known only
to me, himself, and you.
Tuesday night [March 3]. . . . I am not as well as I could
wish to be. The truth is forming a Government is a very severe
trial, moral and material. I have never, until to-day, had air
or exercise, tho' I have had to make five journeys to Windsor.
I was thinking of getting to Brighton for a couple of days
after the Cabinet to-morrow, but I shall come up if I hear of
your arrival.
1 The first Lord Lamington.
2 Son of Disraeli's old opponent, Sidney Herbert. The appointment
was made.
1874] PRINCE OF WALES AND DISRAELI 297
The P. of Wales has written me a most affectionate letter from sfj
St. Petersburg ; he was so touched by my note telling him that I '
the Queen had sent for me! You know all about that. . . .
The Countess of Cardigan and Lancastre called here the other
day, and has since written a wondrous letter ! These are some
of the things that have happened to D.
BEDFORD HOT [EL], BRIGHTON, March 8. . . . How very un-
lucky I should have left town but for the first time in this
great affair I felt dead beat; always, almost, in the same room,
unceasing correspondence or endless interviews. But to have
seen you would have been a much better and more beneficial
change, than even these soft breezes and azure waters. . . .
H.R.H. paid me a visit on Friday morning, before noon a I
very long one; and he asked me to dine with him en petite [stc] 1
comite on Sunday. I was obliged to decline and gave him the
reason. . . .
If affairs were not at this moment so pressing the Queen's
Speech to prepare, and frequent Cabinets, I should come down
to Bournemouth. I cannot do that, tho' my thoughts will be
ever there. . . .
To Anne Lady Chesterfield.
WHITEHALL . GARDENS, Mar. 16, 1874. I was interrupted while
writing to you late yesterday, by the unexpected call of the Due
d'Aumale. . . . Next to Lord Orford, the Due d'Aumale is my
greatest friend I dedicated Lothair to him. I do not know
his equal. Such natural ability, such extreme accomplishment,
and so truly princely a mind and bearing. Between the Comte
de Chambord and the Comte de Paris, he has been ' sat upon '
in life, and has had no opportunity. He looks extremely well
and says he is, ' tho',' he added with much melancholy, ' I am
now alone in the world.' . . .
Corry, of course, resumed his position of principal pri-
vate secretary to the new Prime Minister with two Treas^
ury clerks to assist him: Algernon Tumor, afterwards
Financial Secretary to the Post Office, and James Daly,
who succeeded later to the peerage of Dunsandle. There
was no suitable place on Disraeli's staff for Rose, who was
intimately associated with his private fortunes; and who
had long been in the closest touch with his political career,
until the work of agent to the Conservative party outgrew
the capacities of a busy firm of solicitors. But Disraeli
298 POWER [CHAP, vra
was never ungrateful; and one of his earliest recommenda-
tions for honours was that of Rose for a baronetcy.
Philip Rose* to Montagu Carry.
Feb. 21, 1874. What a pleasure it is to see D. so really great!
You can understand some of my feelings at witnessing the com-
plete realisation of my early predictions, attributed at that time
to boyish enthusiasm, but which only strengthened as time went
on, and which I have never let go even in the darkest times.
You will not wonder that at times it cost me a pang at being
shut out from all share in those triumphs of political life with
which at one time I was actively associated, and for the main
object of which I have toiled and striven for 30 years, and with
which my life has been identified; but in the lottery of life some
are destined to climb the ladder, and others to remain obscure.
To Queen Victoria.
10, DOWNING STREET, April 17, 1874. . . . Mr. Philip Rose is
the son of a burgher family of Bucks, which has existed in repute
for more than two centuries. Mr. Rose is now the possessor of
a fine estate in that county, of which he is a magistrate. He
is a man of education, but entirely the creator of his own for-
tune. His life has been one of singular prosperity; mainly
owing to his combined energy and integrity, and to a brilliant
quickness of perception.
Disraeli, from first to last, regarded his life as a brightly
tinted romance, with himself as hero. Now the third
volume 1 had been opened. By genius and resolution, in
spite of a thousand obstacles, the f Jew boy,' the despised
adventurer, the Oriental mystery-man, had reached the sum-
mit of place and power. Not only was he once again the
First Minister of what Englishmen may be forgiven for
thinking the leading nation in the modern world, but his
countrymen had unmistakably expressed their desire to be
governed by him ; he was supported by a large majority in
both Houses of Parliament, all signs of disaffection in the
party to his leadership having disappeared. He was sur-
i The present generation may need to be reminded that, in mid-
Victorian days, novels and Disraeli's among them were wont to
appear in three volumes.
SIR PHILIP ROSE, BART.
From a portrait b\i Fan Havermant at Hwjhenden.
1874] TRIUMPH OF ROMANCE AND TRAGEDY 299
rounded by a capable and unusually homogeneous band of
colleagues. He was regarded with peculiar favour by his
Sovereign ; and he rapidly came to hold in society, strictly
so called, a place of distinction such as few Prime Ministers
have aspired to and fewer attained.
It was a triumph of romance, but it was also a tragedy.
The hero had all that he had played for; but fruition had
been delayed till he was in his seventieth year and had
lost the partner of his life and of his ambition. Even on
his first attainment of the Premiership in 1868, he had
said to W. F. Haydon in reply to congratulations, ' For me
it is twenty years too late. Give me your age and your
health.' How much more fervently did he echo that cry of
{ Too late ' to those who congratulated him six years after-
wards ! ' Power ! ' he was heard once to mutter in his
triumphal year of 1878 ; ' it has come to me too late. There
were days when, on waking, I felt I could move dynasties
and governments; but that has passed away.' That youth
was the period for action ; that to be granted adequate scope
for your genius when young was the supreme gift of Heaven,
had always been his creed. Now, however much he might
call in art to assist nature, he was indubitably becoming old ;
though he might still be fresh in spirit, he was not physically
comparable to Palmerston when he reached the Premier-
ship at a similar age in 1855, or to Gladstone when he took
up the burden a second time at the age of seventy in 1880.
Tough as Disraeli's fibre had proved through the struggles
of nearly fifty years, he had never been really robust, and
indeed in early manhood had undergone a prolonged period
of grave debility. His intimate notes to his wife from the
House of Commons form a constant record of indisposition,
and of requests for pills and other remedies or prophylactics.
Then in 1867 he had had a serious attack of gout, and he
had suffered intermittently since, notably from bronchial
trouble in 1870. The labours of the Premiership in the
Commons almost immediately brought on renewed attacks;
first in the spring and then in the autumn of 1874 he was
300 POWER [CHAP, vin
pursued by gout, gouty bronchitis, and asthma ; and finally
in 1876 he was driven to choose between definite retirement
and a retreat to the House of Lords. Even the relief af-
forded by the conduct of business in the less laborious House,
though great, was not sufficient ; and the unwearied service
which he rendered to his country was accompanied by a
persistent undercurrent of pain and physical debility, down
to his last illness in 1881.
Without the stimulus given not merely by his honourable
ambition but by the intimate and endearing relations which
he had established with Lady Bradford and Lady Chester-
field, he could hardly have borne the principal burden of
government during years of difficulty and danger. But
even the intimacy with his new friends could not dull the
sense of loneliness and desolation caused by the absence of
the wife to whom, as Hardy noted in his diary, the ' long
reign ' of 1874-1880 would have been a * true joy.' Had
Lady Chesterfield accepted him, or had it been possible for
him to marry Lady Bradford, the vacancy by his hearth,
which so keenly affected him, would have been filled. But,
as things were, he experienced only too vividly through all
his last eight years that melancholy which prompted the
bitter cry of his friend the Due d'Aumale, ' I am now alone
in the world.' Sir William Eraser's fussy obtrusiveness and
misplaced egotism often mar the effect of his Disraelian
stories; but he was inspired by a true discernment in the
message which he sent to his chief in the beginning of the
1874 Administration.
The only communication which I made to Disraeli at the
time of his last Premiership was one which I was told he felt
deeply. I asked a common friend to tell him that I was sure
that the feeling in his heart which dominated all others was,
that one who had believed in him from the first, whose whole
life and soul had been devoted to him, who had longed and
prayed for his ultimate success, was, now that his success had
come, no more his wife. 1
i Fraser, pp. 270, 271.
1 1 am only truly great in action. If ever I am placed
in a truly eminent position I shall prove this.' So in a
moment of exaltation wrote Disraeli in his thirtieth year;
now, in his seventieth, at long last, he was to show that he
had not misjudged his own capacity. Social improvement
at home and the enhancement and consolidation of our
imperial position abroad were to be the task of the Min-
istry under his guidance; but in both respects Ministers
proceeded with caution and deliberation, with the unex-
pected result that the interest of their first session was pre-
dominantly ecclesiastical. On the domestic side, in com-
pliance with the general desire for a respite from incessant
legislation, they determined to do no more than lay this
year a foundation for their policy. They appointed a
Royal Commission to investigate the subject of the relations
of master and servant; and proposed to deal at once with
only a few minor matters, including an amendment of the
Factory Act and certain modifications of the new licensing
law. On the imperial side, in order to show that the new
Government hoped to infuse some spirit and dignity into
foreign policy, Disraeli suggested to Derby the introduction
into the Queen's Speech of ' a phrase which, without alarm-
ing, might a little mark out our policy from our unpopular
predecessors'.' The phrase actually used was : ' I shall
not fail to exercise the influence arising from these cordial
relations [with foreign Powers] for the maintenance of
European peace, and the faithful observance of interna-
tional obligations.'
301
302 POLITICAL SUCCESS [CHAP, n
To Queen Victoria.
10, DOWNING STREET, March 14, 1874. Mr. Disraeli with his
humble duty to your Majesty:
He encloses a draft of the Royal Speech for your Majesty's
consideration.
Your Majesty will observe, that he has somewhat deviated
from the routine paragraph respecting foreign affairs. He
thought the accession to office of a new Ministry was not a
bad occasion to call the attention of Europe to that respect for
treaties which your Majesty's present advisers, with your ap-
probation, are resolved to observe.
In case news of the treaty being signed do not arrive, the
paragraph respecting the Ashantee War will require modification.
Parliament will open on Thursday the 19th. Whether your
Majesty will be graciously pleased to open it, shall be a matter,
always, for your Majesty alone to decide.
Mr. Disraeli has too high, and genuine, an opinion of your
Majesty's judgment, and too sincere an appreciation of your
Majesty's vast political experience, to doubt that, whatever your
Majesty's decision on this important subject, it will be a correct
one. He will not, therefore, presume to dwell [on], only to
glance at, the peculiar circumstances of the present occasion:
a new Parliament; a ballot Parliament; a new Ministry; a
Ministry recommended to your Majesty by an extraordinary ex-
pression of Conservative opinion; the great and deep popularity
of the Royal House at the present moment, and the especial,
and even affectionate, reverence for your Majesty's person; the
presence of illustrious strangers, at this moment, at your Majes-
ty's Court, and the most interesting cause of that presence 1
all these considerations, Mr. Disraeli feels sure, will be duly
weighed by your Majesty, and decided upon with dignified dis-
cretion.
Disraeli's insinuating pleading did not prevail to secure
the Queen's presence at the opening of Parliament; and
accordingly there was nothing dramatic about the first public
appearance of his Ministry. He had the wisdom and
magnanimity to suggest the re-election of the Liberal
Speaker chosen towards the close of the last Parliament,
Henry Brand. The depression of the beaten Liberals was
augmented by Gladstone's announcement that he only pro-
1 The recent marriage of the Duke of Edinburgh to a daughter of
the Emperor of Russia.
1874] OPENING OF PARLIAMENT 303
posed to attend occasionally during the present session, and
reserved to himself the right to resign absolutely the leader-
ship of the Opposition in the following spring. It was,
Disraeli said on one of the occasions when he met his rival
on the neutral ground of Marlborough House, ' the wrath,
the unappeasable wrath, of Achilles.'
To Anne Lady Chesterfield.
WHITEHALL, March 17, 1874. . . . Yesterday we had a grand
banquet at Marlboro' House, which was agreeable enough. I
had not very lively neighbours at dinner. . . . However, I do
not dislike what Macaulay called some ' flashes of silence,' and
unless I sit next to you, or somebody as interesting and charm-
ing, I find a pleasant repose in a silent banquet, particularly
with a good band.
After dinner we had conversation enough, and I could amuse
you for hours, if we were walking together alone at Bretby, but
alas! the pressure of business, wh. is now getting intense, can
only spare time for a snatch.
The Dss. of Edinburgh was lively as a bird. She does not
like our habit in England of all standing after dinner, and I
must say I find it exhausting. In Russia the Court all sit.
She asked me who a certain person was, talking to a lady.
I replied, ' That is my rival.' ' What a strange state society is
in here,' she said. ' Wherever I go, there is a double. Two
Prime Ministers, two Secretaries of State, two Lord Chamber-
lains, and two Lord Chancellors.' . . .
To Lady Bradford.
WHITEHALL, March 19, 1874. . . . I had a very hard day
yesterday. A great personage, 1 a favourite of yours and of
mine, was with me all the morning at this house with difficult
and delicate affairs; then without luncheon, I had to run to
D[owning] S[treet] to keep my appointments with the mover
and seconder of the Address, each of whom I had to see sepa-
rately; then a long Cabinet, and then the banquets! Mine was
most successful, and I believe also Derby's. Everybody said tbey
never saw a more brilliant table. I gave Gunter carte blanche,
and he deserved it. He had a new service of plate. Baroness
Rothschild sent me six large baskets of English strawberries, 200
head of gigantic Parisian asperge, and the largest Strasburg foie
i The Prince of Wales.
304 POLITICAL SUCCESS [CHAP, ct
gras that ever was seen. All agreed that the change of nation-
ality had not deprived Alsace of its skill. . . .
To-day I am to take my seat at four o'ck., introduced by .
Cis l and Mr. Henley. . . .
* Things went off very quietly in the House/ was Dis-
raeli's description of the opening day to Lady Bradford.
' Gladstone made a queer dispiriting speech, and, in short,
told his party that the country had decided against them,
and that they were thoroughly beaten.' The one urgent
topic was the famine in India; and the vigorous measures
which, in spite of Anglo-Indian opposition, the Liberal
Viceroy, Northbrook, was taking to cope with it received
warm support from Salisbury and the new Government.
The occasion gave Lord George Hamilton an opportunity to
show that Disraeli had not been mistaken in singling him
out for responsible office. ' This is a triumph for me,' he
wrote to Lady Bradford. 2
To Queen Victoria.
HOUSE OF COMMONS, March 20, 1874. Mr. Disraeli with his
humble duty to your Majesty: . . .
Mr. Disraeli was very inadvertent in not reporting the pro-
ceedings of the House of Commons last night to your Majesty.
He will to-night ab initio, so that your Majesty's record of the
new Parliament shall be complete.
He is now writing hurriedly in his place, in the midst of busi-
ness and not wishing to keep the Windsor messenger.
10, DOWNING STREET, March 20, 1874. . . . An interesting
evening in the House of Commons. The Home Rule debate
was actively, but not forcibly, sustained by the Irish members.
Mr. Gladstone spoke early in the debate, and well. Sir Michael
Beach with great force and success.
The night was favourable to the young Ministers. Lord
George Hamilton greatly distinguished himself in his Indian
statement. Both sides of the House were delighted with him:
1 General Forester, Lady Bradford's brother, who shortly afterwards
succeeded as 3rd Lord Forester, was in March, 1874, Father of the
House of Commons.
2 Lord George, in his interesting Parliamentary Reminiscences, has
given in full the flattering description of his speech in the letter to
Lady Bradford.
1874] SIR GARNET WOLSELEY 305
with his thorough knowledge of his subject; his fine voice; his
calmness, dignity, and grace. He spoke for exactly an hour.
Mr. Disraeli has rarely witnessed so great a success and, what
is better, a promise of greater.
There were only ten days of the Parliamentary session
before the Easter recess ; and the new Minister had a vast
amount of work and of society to pack into his early days
of power.
To Anne Lady Chesterfield.
WHITEHALL, March 24, 1874. . . . Yesterday was a galloping
day. . .
I had to see Sir Garnet Wolseley 1 at one, and find out what
he expected, or wished, as a reward : not a very easy or pleasing
task. It often happens, in such cases, that Governments put
themselves much out of the way to devise fitting recognition of
merit, and then find they have decided on exactly the very thing
that was not wanted.
Then I had a great deputation in D.S. at Vfe past 2 o'ck. ; then
the Ho. of Comm. at */ past four, and then, keeping my
brougham ready, I managed to steal away to Belgrave Sqre. at */2
past 6, and see somebody I love as much as I do yourself.
Then I had to get home to dress for one of the great wedding
banqiiets ; at Gloster House : all the royalties there Marl-
boro' House, Clarence House, and Kensington Palace; and a
host of Abercorns, Ailesburys, Baths, Barringtons, etc., etc.,
not forgetting the hero of the hour, Sir Garnet again.
He is a little man, but with a good presence, and a bright
blue eye, holds his head well, and has a lithe figure: he is only
40 ; so has a great career before him. . . .
I am very well, altho' the work is increasing and it seems a
dream. I told somebody that I was well because I was happy,
and she said ' Of course you are, because you have got all you
wished.'
But I assure you, as I assured her, it is not that. I am
happy in yr. friendship and your sister's. They are the charm
and consolation of a life that would otherwise be lonely. You
are always something to think about; something that soothes
and enlivens amid vexation and care. . . .
5 o'ck. March 29. . . . We have had a busy week, social and
otherwise: a drawing-room and a levee. Selina presented her
i Who had commanded the Ashantee expedition and taken Coomas-
sie; afterwards F. M. Viscount Wolseley.
306 POLITICAL SUCCESS [CHAP, ix
daughter, Lady Mabel, 1 as you know. Selina was in mourning,
but it particularly becomes her, and, in my opinion, she was
much the most distinguished person at the Palace. I dined in
Belgrave Sqre. aft[erwar]ds and met the Baths, and one or
two agreeable people: a little round table; not more than the
Muses and not less than the Graces. . . .
10, DOWNING St., March 31. I have just adjourned the Ho.
of Commons for a fortnight. I begin to feel the reality of
power. . . .
To Lady Bradford.
10, DOWNING STREET, March 31. . . . I spoke last night 2
quite to my own satisfaction, which I rarely do, but did not
produce any great effect on the House, which expected some-
thing of a more inflammatory kind in all probability. I gave
them something Attic. Your friend The Times again assailed
me, wh. I disregard and shd. not notice if you did not. . . .
Disraeli spent the Easter recess at Bretby. Two sen-
tences, one from a letter to Corry, and the other from a letter
to Lady Bradford, give us pictures of his afternoon drives
and his evening relaxations. ' We came home in an open
carriage a break in pelting rain ; but my fascinating
hostess covered me with her umbrella, so that I was as com-
fortable as in a tent, and wished the storm to last.' ' We
play whist every evening, and I have never once revoked ;
more than that, Lady Ches. says I play a " really good
game."
The immediate business before the Government was the
Budget a particularly crucial issue, as it was on the
financial cry of abolishing the income tax that Gladstone
had gone to the country. From Bretby, in answer to an
appeal from Northcote, who had kept him fully informed
of the development of his schemes, he wrote a decisive letter.
To Sir Stafford Northcote.
BRETBY PARK, April 4, 1874. If we don't take care, we shall
make a muddle of the Budget. It is indispensable that we
should take Id. off the income tax. . . .
1 Now Lady Mabel Kenyon-Slaney.
2 In moving the vote of thanks to the General and the troops for
the Ashantee expedition.
1874] THE BUDGET 307
I was always in favour of introducing a rating bill, provided
we could deal largely with local taxation. If you pass a rating
bill, relieve the ratepayers from police and lunatics, and abolish
the Government exemptions, I consider the local taxation ques-
tion virtually settled. The rating bill would run pretty easily
with such adjuncts. You will have, by this mode, satisfied a
large party in the House, and largely consisting of our friends.
The repeal of the sugar duties will satisfy the free traders and
the democracy.
The reduction of one penny in the income tax will be a
golden bridge for all anti-income tax men in our own ranks.
They will grumble, but they will support us.
With these three great objects accomplished, I think you may
count on success.
If you can do no more, do it, but that would not be necessary.
The repeal of the horse duty was necessary, when you contem-
plated dealing so partially, and, comparatively speaking, slightly,
with the local burthens. Now it will range itself if necessary
with the taxes on locomotion, the consideration of which may
keep. It seems to me, however, that you might repeal the horse
duty in addition ; and I am clear that you had better not recede
in any considerable degree from the original estimates. . . .
I hope I have made my views pretty clear. I send this by
messenger, as I don't like the post as a means of conveyance,
when the repeal of taxes is concerned.
It pleased the Opposition to describe a Budget drawn
on these large lines as frittering away the Liberal surplus
of over five millions ; but subsequent history has shown how
utterly impracticable was Gladstone's showy policy of com-
plete abolition of the income tax. Had he prevailed for the
moment, the increasing demands of armaments on the one
hand, and of social legislation on the other, must have led
to its reimposition within a very few years; and it is
creditable to Disraeli, that, though he dallied long with the
hope of abolition, yet when he attained power in 1874 he
declined, with the prospect of progressive expenditure, to
abandon so powerful an engine of revenue. He was able,
in this halcyon period of abounding trade and political
quietude, to reduce the rate to twopence, to abolish the sugar
duties and the horse tax, and to relieve local rates of the
308 POLITICAL SUCCESS [CHAP, ix
burden of police and lunatics; boons which, save in com-
parison with total relief from income tax, would have been
regarded as eminently praiseworthy, and which were ac-
cepted by Parliament as satisfactory.
Within a few days of his return from Bretby Disraeli
was seized by the first of a series of attacks of gout which
crippled him, at intervals, for the remainder of the year.
To Anne Lady Chesterfield.
WHITEHALL GARDENS, April 16, 1874. . . . After five years'
truce, the gout attacked my left hand on Monday last. I have
borne up against it as well as I could, for I don't think the world
likes sick Ministers, but I am afraid it has beaten me. After
a long Cabinet yesterday, I was obliged to send my excuses to
the Speaker, to decline dining with him; and tho' I must man-
age to appear in the H. of C. to-day for the Budget, I fear my
arm must be in a sling. . . .
WHITEHALL, April 18. . . . I have seen my hand to-day for
the first time for a week, and tho' not exactly fit for a Lord
Chamberlain, it would do for a morganatic marriage, wh. is al-
ways rather an ugly affair. . . .
To Lady Bradford.
W[HITEHALL GARDENS], April 18, 1874. . . . The Budget is
very successful. 1 . . .
If I can I must go to the Salisbury banquet to-day, but I
will not decide till six o'ck. ... I was in the House last night
till midnight, and only left because I was assured there cd. be
no more divisions. There was one, however, and Mr. Secy. Cross
talked, I see, of the Prime Minister's absence on account of the
state of his health ! ! ! What language ! . . .
April 19. . . . It won't do for me to go down to Brighton,
and give up the dinners I have accepted, or they wd. make out
I was very ill and all that. I have refused every invitation that
has arrived since I returned to town. I mean to fashion and
frame my life into two divisions : the public life, wh. speaks for
itself; and the inner, or social life, wh., so far as I can arrange,
shall be confined to the society of those I love and those who
love them.
Life, at least so much of it as may remain to me, is far too
i In reporting to the Queen Disraeli wrote that ' the Budget was
extremely well received by the House. The speech was artistically
conceived and the interest skilfully sustained till the end.'
1874] DINNER AT THE SALISBURYS' 309
valuable to ' waste its fragrance on the desert air.' I live for
Power and the Affections ; and one may enjoy both without being
bored and wearied with all the dull demands of conventional in-
tercourse. ...
Yesterday was one of those cumbrous banquets wh. I abhor,
and wh. in my present condition was oppressive French Am-
bassadors, and Dukes and Duchesses of Marlboro' and Cleve-
land, and all that. It did me no harm, however, for I was re-
solved and firm, asked for seltzer water, did not pretend to drink
wine, or to eat. I had the honor to sit by the great lady of
the mansion, so long, and so recently, my bitter foe. She
feasted me with, sometimes skilful, adulation. If I were not
really indifferent to it, wh. I think I am, I certainly appeared
to be so yesterday, for with the depression of my complaint, and
the want of all artificial stimulus, I felt I was singularly dull
and flat. I could scarcely keep up the battledore; the shuttle-
cock indeed frequently fell.
I am told by another great lady, that all this homage is sin-
cere. It is the expression of ' gratitude ' ; not so much for the
offices I have showered on them, 1 as for the delicate manner in
which I spare them the sense of ' humiliation.'
April 25. . . . Last night 2 was most amusing. Gladstone
stagey, overdone, and full of false feeling and false taste; trying
to assume the position of Scipio Africanus, accused by a country
which he had saved.
But, between Smollett and Whalley, it was a provincial Ham-
let bet[wee]n clown and pantaloon.
To Arme Lady Chesterfield.
W. G., May 6. Yesterday was the first party division of the
session, and the Ministry won triumphantly. 3 The battle came
off on a different issue from that which I had apprehended when
I dined out, wh. was almost as rash as the Duke of Wellington's
1 Besides Lord Salisbury, his brother, Lord Eustace Cecil, held
office in Disraeli's Administration; as well, of course, as Lord Exeter,
the head of the elder branch of the Cecils.
2 Smollett (C.) moved and Whalley (L.) seconded an abortive vote
of censure on Gladstone for advising the recent dissolution. On the
debate on the Address, Disraeli had generously said : ' If I had been
a follower of a parliamentary chief as eminent, even if I thought he
had erred, I should have been disposed rather to exhibit sympathy
than to offer criticism. I should remember the great victories which
he had fought and won; I should remember his illustrious career; its
continuous success and splendour, not its accidental or even disastrous
mistakes.'
s The question at issue was the educational standard to be reached
by the children of out-door paupers.
310 POLITICAL SUCCESS [CHAP, ix
ball at Brussels. But I had made all my preparations, tho' I
had contemplated a different point of attack.
The majority of 63 may be looked upon as our working ma-
jority to be raised to 80 on very critical occasions. Our
friends are in high spirits and have quite forgotten the misad-
venture of the other night. 1 Forster, Lowe, Goschen, and Co.
looked dreadfully crestfallen. . . . All the Home Rulers voted
against us.
The humdrum course of hardly contentious Government
business was little to the taste of eager spirits on the Op-
position benches. Mr. (now Sir George) Trevelyan, ac-
cordingly, pushed into the foreground the question of the
county franchise. But a newly elected Conservative Par-
liament could hardly be expected to welcome an immediate
prospect of further constitutional change, and Mr. Tre-
velyan's motion was decisively rejected.
To Anne Lady Chesterfield.
W. GARDENS, May 14, 1874. We had a capital division on a
capital subject the extension of the household franchise to
counties. There were rumors that the Liberal party was to be
reorganised on this 'platform,' and amazing whips were made
by both sides. The result surprised both. Lord Hartington
. . . and other Whigs left the House without voting; and Mr.
Lowe actually voted with us! There were five hundred, and
more, in the House during the debate, and we had a purely Con-
servative majority, with the exception of Mr. Lowe, of 114! . . .
Disraeli's opposition to the motion was of an opportunist
character. 2 While pointing out that the distribution of
political power in the community was an affair of conven-
tion, and not of moral or abstract right, he expressly dis-
claimed any objection in principle to the enfranchisement
of the county householder.
I have no doubt that the rated householder in the county is
just as competent to exercise the franchise with advantage to
i When the Government was beaten during the dinner hour on an
Irish question by two votes.
2 ' The measure will not be passed for ten years ; and when ten
years are over it will be harmless.' Letter from Corry for Beacons-
field to C. S. Read. Dec. 27, 1877.
1874] COUNTY FRANCHISE REFORM 311
the country as the rated householder in the town. I have not
the slightest doubt whatever that he possesses all those virtues
which generally characterise the British people. And I have
as little doubt that, if he possessed the franchise, he would
exercise it with the same prudence and the same benefit to the
community as the rated householder in the town.
But, as the enfranchisement would enormously increase
the county electors, causing them considerably to outnumber
the borough electors, it would be necessary to have a great
redistribution of seats at the same time, with the result of
the erasure from the Parliamentary map of the important
class of boroughs of 20,000 or 25,000 inhabitants. He
was not prepared to strike a fatal blow at the borough con-
stitution of the United Kingdom. It was an unwise thing
for an old country to be always speculating on organic
change. In that matter their course of late years had
been very rapid and decisive. He was confident in the
good sense of the people. But they had had a great
meal to digest, and he was not sure that it had as yet
been entirely assimilated. The mind of the agricultural
class was occupied not with political change, but rather with
the elevation of their social condition. ' When the disposi-
tion of the country is favourable, beyond any preceding
time that I can recall, to a successful consideration of the
social wants of the great body of the people, I think it would
be most unwise to encourage this fever for organic change.' l
Here was sounded clearly the note of social reform, which
honourably distinguished all the domestic legislation of the
Government.
To Anne Lady Chesterfield.
2, WHITEHALL GARDENS, May 19, 1874. . . . Last night was
critical. Gladstone reappeared with all his marshals, Lowe and
Childers and Goschen, and others of the gang. They were to
make an attack on our Supplementary Estimates for the navy.
i This was Disraeli's last statement of policy on Parliamentary
Reform. He had, it may be added, when still in opposition, announced
his adhesion in principle to the extension of the suffrage to women.
312 POLITICAL SUCCESS [CHAP, ix
But a traitor had apprised me of their purpose, and my benches
were full to overflowing. They dared not attack the master of
100 legions, and they took refuge in a feeble reconnaissance by
Childers, who was snuffed out by the Chanr. of the Excr.
The elections continue to go well for the Ministry, wh. shows
that the Conservative reaction was not a momentary feeling. . . .
To Queen Victoria.
2, WHITEHALL GARDENS, May 22, 1874. . . . To-night, there
was an amusing debate respecting making Oxford a military
centre. Mr. Hall, the new Conservative member for Oxford
City, made a maiden speech of considerable power and promise :
a fine voice, a natural manner, and much improvisation. While
he was sitting down, amid many cheers, Lord Randolph Churchill
rose, and, though sitting on the same side of the House, upheld
the cause of the University against the City, and answered Mr.
Hall.
Lord Randolph said many imprudent things, which is not very
important in the maiden speech of a young member and a young
man; 'but the House was surprised, and then captivated, by his
energy, and natural flow, and his impressive manner. With self-
control and study, he might mount. It was a speech of great
promise. . . .
The Whitsuntide recess was a period of great refresh-
ment to Disraeli, as he had the Bradfords to stay with him
at Hughenden, the party to meet them comprising Maria
Lady Ailesbury, the Wharncliffes, and Pembroke. It was
1 the fulness of spring,' he wrote to Lady Chesterfield, while
awaiting their arrival : ' thorns and chestnuts and lilacs
and acacia, all in bloom, and the air still and balmy. . . .
I am as restless as if I were as young as the spring.' Un-
fortunately he came back to town with a suspicion of trouble
in his throat ; and the remedies given him to restore his
voice brought out the gout once more. ' I left the H. of C.
on Monday night at 10 o'ck.' he wrote to Lady Bradford on
June 10, ' all the difficulties about the Licensing Bill being
triumphantly over, with the view of going to Montagu
House; but when I began to dress I found I hobbled, and
a P. Minister hobbling wd. never do, so I gave it wisely up.'
1 The enemy has entirely overpowered me,' he wrote in an-
a 2
Q
I F
BsP
* 03
G t
w
p
^
W
B
-.'-'-, ATTACK OF GOTT :
other note. ' After * night of iDMMMmg an&erug I haw
bent obliged to send to Handy to fake the ran*, a* it is
phvricafly hnpoMibk for me to n*di tbe ttx of C/
1V>
2,
</dL, I WIN invaded by tbe Cr, of the Ear, John MaMMra, Bar-
rington with palf facca and detracted *ir,
the Mnnrtrr oW FacfeMj KB,
qgfadcd frMi ito jiiHaiMM la nWtr alnw,
* _<^ _ _ < A. * JJ
I Mid that Midb * rapreMBtotioD, if it mete * jmt <MMV
to here ken made to me longr *** when j fcej, W State
WM ncra* the 2nd iCMKn* f tint BilL 2*fly that the
MBtetion m wniMt md dwmL H 1 I nail Hi in
of Beifaat from d nutrictionc on UKW placed on dw
of YoHnhne would be in fact CTtammhiaa; i
of Protection in faror of Ireland,
My friend* were much alarmed, but I WM dear M to our
Ton ee the iwnJfc We had Bnjority
/ae 1ft., , . It
^, but it waa aueecMuuL tne H
oiey iaaMiM what I TOM, ad I taiiihi w lie temhle Ifo
Playfair in no time, tho* a few day* ago it WM Mid that, on the
question of * Minister of Education, die Oppoaition would cer-
tainly beat n&.
I got away hy eight o*ek, not materially injured by the exer-
tion: hut I am now to he quiet tor 8 and 40 hours, and then
I ahall be more than quite writ
l4Mt Sunday Bradford came on a social YMU* and WIM ao
dioefced at fr4mg; me knocked up, that he diff*1kd gffr^ t
pay me a rwh, wh, vW did yeaterday before her depaituie. , . .
Handicapped in this waj br flbma, Dicraeli had to face,
in the last portion of die seanon, die moat critical ata^e of
a ddieate and diftVnlt qneation. 'There is not a mdc
ahead or a dood/ he told ladr Chcaterfidd; hot, as he
remembered when writing to Ladj Bradford, there
314 POLITICAL SUCCESS [CHAP, ix
one exception, ' the Church Bill, which is not our child, and
of which the fortunes are very obscure.' It was an un-
merited misfortune for Disraeli that his accession to power
should have coincided with the transference of the Ritual-
istic controversy from the stage of public discussion to that
of legislative action. He had been a party to the appoint-
ment of a Royal Commission in 1867 to investigate the
problem, and might reasonably have hoped that it would
have been taken in hand by Parliament before 1874. The
Commission had been issued after a condemnation of Ritual-
istic excesses by Convocation; it contained a full repre-
sentation of the High Church party, Bishop Wilberforce,
Beauchamp, Beresford-Hope, J. G. Hubbard, Canon Greg-
ory, and Sir Robert Phillimore; and in August of 1867 it
issued its first and practically unanimous report, affirming
the expediency of restraining variations of vestments, and
pronouncing that this should be done by providing aggrieved
parishioners with easy and effectual process for complaint
and redress. Gladstone, a devoted son of the Church of
England, had held office, with a large majority at his back,
for five subsequent years; and yet, beyond expressing
strongly in the House of Commons in 1872 his belief that
there was an urgent case for legislation, he had taken no
step whatever to deal with the extravagance which he de-
plored. Shaftesbury, as Evangelical as he was philan-
thropic, had endeavoured year after year to obtain support
in the Lords for a drastic Bill of his own ; but a man of his
extreme views could hardly expect support from the bench
of Bishops. Meanwhile the situation had become worse,
owing to the rapid extension of the Ritualistic party on the
one hand, and, on the other, to a striking discrepancy among
the oracles of the law. In the Purchas case the use of
Eucharistic vestments, of the eastward position by the
celebrant, of wafer-bread, and of the mixed Chalice the
four points to which most importance was attached by both
the contending parties had first been affirmed to be law-
1874] THE BISHOPS AND RITUALISM 315
ful by the Dean of Arches and then, on appeal to the Privy
Council, had been condemned as unlawful. By these judg-
ments each party in turn was exalted and depressed ; and the
reversal of the first by the second rallied to the Ritualistic
side no small following among the moderate High Church-
men. In these circumstances the Bishops, under the guid-
ance of Archbishop Tait, came to the conclusion that legis-
lation must be promoted to prevent the further spread of
anarchy and the possible disruption of the Church. But
they concerned themselves solely with the machinery for
enforcing the law, ignoring the patent fact, which the Pur-
chas judgments advertised, that that law was capable of very
different interpretations.
When, in January, 1874, the episcopal decision was taken,
Gladstone was in power; before the session opened, there
was a new Government, and one in which both High and
Low Church had eminent representatives Salisbury,
Hardy, and Carnarvon on one side, and Cairns on the other.
Disraeli himself, much impressed, as Lothair showed, by
the recent successes of Roman propaganda in England, and
believing also, as he wrote in the General Preface to the
Novels, that the ' medieval superstitions,' which Ritualism
revived, were l generally only the embodiment of pagan
ceremonies and creeds,' was averse from the new develop-
ment; in private letters he disrespectfuly referred to
Ritualistic practices as 'high jinks.' But, with a vivid
recollection of the Ecclesiastical Titles fiasco in 1850-51, he
was much too shrewd to wish to embark on ecclesiastical
legislation; and in his correspondence over Beauchamp's
appointment to the Household had been quite ready to ac-
cept Salisbury's standpoint.
But hardly was he installed in office before pressure was
applied to him. Within the first week he received, along
with the Archbishop's congratulations, a notification that the
Bishops were contemplating a Bill and looked to the Gov-
ernment for advice and support.
316 POLITICAL SUCCESS [CHAP, a
From Archbishop Tait.
Private and Confidential. ADDINGTON PARK, Feb. 23, '74.
First let me express my congratulations, if indeed it be a sub-
ject of congratulation to bave won the most influential post in
Europe by a most honorable manifestation of the regard of a
great people, even though that post brings the heaviest burden
that any one man can be called to bear. May God sustain you
and help you to use all your influence for the best interests of
the country!
Secondly will you allow me in my own department to proceed
to add to your burden? May I ask you to read the enclosed
memorandum ? It has been drawn up after full consultation with
the Queen. Her Majesty is much interested in it, thinking,
I believe rightly, that, unless something of the kind indicated
is done> the Church of England will go on the breakers. The
Bishops also have almost unanimously approved.
If, after talking over the matter with the Queen, you see
your way to help us with the force of Government in some
necessary legislation, I shall feel very grateful for your advice.
The great body of moderate persons will I think approve,
unless some cannonade is opened against us in the newspapers
and they axe frightened from their guns.
Lords Salisbury and Carnarvon, B[eresford] Hope and Hub-
bard must be persuaded that, we do not mean to persecxite their
friends, only to make them act reasonably. Lord Shaftesbury
and his following must be convinced that there is no danger
of weapons intended for other purposes rebounding against
themselves, unless in such cases as are obvious violations of the
law.
I trust you may be able and willing to help us. I am sure
there is a well-grounded alarm caused by the lawlessness which
has sprung up of late, and which is sure to go on and increase,
if we wait for a general amendment of the administration of
the ecclesiastical law, which may I fear be expected to be ac-
complished about the Greek Kalends. . . .
The Archbishop of York is thoroughly with me in the matter
on which I write.
The Queen had already shown her antipathy to the
Ritualistic movement by her protest against receiving ex-
treme High Churchmen into her Household ; and before the
end of February she talked earnestly to Derby about ' the
duty of the Government to discourage Ritualism in the
1874] SALISBURY'S OBJECTIONS 317
Church.' The Archbishop's memorandum dwelt on the
lawlessness of selfwilled incumbents, the complicated and
cumbrous proceedings of the ecclesiastical courts, and the
necessity for ' some simple, summary, and inexpensive
process, for securing obedience to the law.' The Bishops,
Disraeli was told, suggested that summary effect should be
given to a monition issued by the Ordinary, the Bishop, on
the advice of a diocesan board, half clergy, half laity, to be
enforced by sequestration, subject to an appeal to the Arch-
bishop of the Province. Disraeli at once, as on the House-
hold difficulty, consulted Salisbury, who put the capital ob-
jection in a nut-shell : ' I sympathise with you sincerely in
having this trouble put upon you. The Archbishop is ask-
ing for an impossibility: that it shall be as easy to apply a
much-disputed law, as if it were undisputed.' Salisbury
proceeded to detail his criticism in a note.
Note ~by Lord Salisbury.
March 2, 1874. Most people will sympathise with the Arch-
bishop's desire to prevent ' rash innovations which destroy the
peace of parishes.' The difficulty is to devise the legislation that
will do this without producing a civil war in the Church of
England. The memorandum is vague: and upon the most es-
sential point ambiguous. I cannot help thinking that the ac-
quiescence of the Bishops is due to that cardinal ambiguity.
It proposes to give to a Bishop, acting with a council of clergy
and churchwardens, a power of forbidding under pain of seques-
tration something but what? May they forbid anything
they please? or only anything illegal? The distinction is vital:
but there is nothing in the memorandum to indicate which kind
of power they are to have. I must, therefore, examine both
alternatives.
1. Let us assume that they are to have the power of forbid-
ding anything they please. I cannot conceive that so despotic
a proposal would pass. . . .
I pass to the second alternative. Let us assume that the
Bishop and his council are, by the new legislation, to have power
of forbidding, not what they please, but what is illegal. I can-
not see what advantage such an enactment would bring. Its
object is to avoid costly litigation. But the question would still
318 POLITICAL SUCCESS [CHAP, ix
remain what is illegal : and that question can only be decided
in a court of justice. . . .
I conclude therefore that the proposals of the memorandum,
if understood one way, would be contrary to the whole tenor
of English law, and would certainly break up the Establish-
ment: if understood the other way, they would not attain the
cheapness and the simplicity they have in view.
Disraeli was very reluctant to meddle with a thorny
question which must necessarily divide his Cabinet. But
events rapidly forced his hand. Within a few weeks an in-
discretion of the press revealed the intentions of the Bishops,
whereupon public feeling began to kindle, the Protestant
party demanded legislation of an even more stringent kind,
and Pusey in a series of letters to The Times marshalled
High Churchmen in general to take their stand by the
Ritualists. It was clear that a hornets' nest was being
stirred; and the Queen seized the occasion to bring strong
pressure to bear on Disraeli to support the Archbishop.
From Queen Victoria.
WINDSOR, March 20, '74. Mr. Disraeli is aware, the Queen
believes, that the Archbishop of Canterbury intends to intro-
duce a Bill after Easter to check the prevalence of Ritualism
in the Church of England, which is becoming very alarming.
!No measure so important affecting the Established Church
should be treated as an open question, but should have the full
support of the Government.
As far as the Bill may be directed against practices so lately
declared illegal, little difficulty can arise. But the Queen wishes
to express further that she warmly sympathises with the laity
in general and with those of the clergy, who wish to carry on
the service according to long-established usage.
The Queen therefore earnestly hopes that her Government may
equally support any dispensing powers in the Bill that may be
added for their protection or suggest others to meet the same ob-
ject. Her earnest wish is that Mr. Disraeli should go as far as he
can without embarrassment to the Government, in satisfying the
Protestant feeling of the country in relation to this measure.
The Queen's proposal, which was in effect that those
clergy who erred on the side of excess of ceremony should be
1874] PRESSURE FROM THE QUEEN 319
restrained and punished, but those who erred on the side of
defect, should be protected, provoked very naturally a strong
protest to Disraeli from Salisbury.
From Lord Salisbury.
INDIA OFFICE (Undated). A very unpleasant state of things.
Of course I cannot and I suspect other members of the Cabinet
could not support such a Bill as is here sketched out. But
I hope that no serious difficulty is really impending. I saw
the Bishop of Peterborough on Thursday. He assured me that
the Bishops had as a body approved of no Bill; and that the
majority of them were opposed to any Bill giving them despotic
powers. All he wanted was power to stop practices which he
thought illegal, pending the decision of the proper court.
This is a perfectly reasonable proposal and at the same
time it might be made to satisfy the Queen.
Such a unilateral Bill as she proposes would be simply im-
possible to draw. If you gave a dispensing power to Bishops
they would use it on both sides; and you cannot name the ex-
cepted practices in an Act of Parliament.
I have seen Liddon. He was very moderate: promised me
that he and Pusey would write to the chief Ritualists in the most
earnest terms to warn them of the danger of their proceedings.
This has been done. But he told me that he was being treated as
a renegade by a large section of his party. . . .
Salisbury further pointed out that the procedure sug-
gested by the Archbishop's Bill involved a fundamental
change in the status of the clergy. At present the bene-
ficed clergy were freeholders so long as they obeyed known
conditions; under the Archbishop's scheme they would be
subjected to a purely discretionary power. But Salisbury
was anxious to find a modus vivendi; and had various talks
with Cairns to that end. Cairns was as little disposed to
accept the Archbishop's proposal as Salisbury.
From Lord Cairns.
5, CROMWELL HOUSES, S. W:, March 25, 1874. This is a very
embarrassing question.
I have a strong opinion that if it were attempted to carry
or support a Bill like this, as a Government, it would lead to
a secession of several members of the Cabinet
320 POLITICAL SUCCESS [CHAP, n
I doubt much whether the Evangelical and ' Protestant '
division of the Church would be willing to give to Bishops and
Archbishops as much power and discretion as this Bill does.
The Bill is full of crudities and unworkable provisions, and
the alterations in some of its leading features shew that its
framers are not decided as to what they mean.
By the Bill the Archbishop and his Vicar-General could decide
the most knotty point of law as to ecclesiastical ritual or practice
without appeal.
I should, individually, much prefer an enactment by which
six household parishioners (without any fantastic council), de-
claring themselves members of the Church, might, on giving
security for costs, complain of any breach of the law . . . ;
the complaint to be made in a summary way to the Bishop, and
an appeal from him to the Queen in Council, to be referred
to the Appellate Court, .with ecclesiastical assessors, under the
Act of last year.
Something like this passed a select committee of the H. of
L. a few years ago, and was assented to by, inter olios, Lord
Salisbury.
With Cairns's help Disraeli set himself to make the
Archbishop's Bill a more workable and practicable measure ;
substituting for the brand-new diocesan board the assessors
provided under the Church Discipline Act, and providing
that the ultimate appeal should be to the Privy Council
instead of the Archbishop. Disraeli was well aware of the
pitfalls, and therefore, while lending his aid to the Arch-
bishop, was careful to do so as a layman of influence rather
than as Prime Minister.
To Lady Bradford.
WHITEHALL, March 26, 1874. . . . At twelve to-day, the
Archbishop comes. There falls to me the hardest nut to crack,
that ever was the lot of a Minister. A headstrong step, and
it is not only Ministries that wd. be broken up, but political
parties altogether, even the Anglican Church itself.
I have no one really to consult with. I can listen to my
colleagues, and all they say is worth attention, but they are
all prejudiced, one way or other. . . .
To Queen Victoria.
2, WHITEHALL GARDENS, April 18, 1874. Mr. Disraeli with
his humble duty to your Majesty :
1874] PUBLIC WORSHIP REGULATION BILL 321
He has just had an interview with the Archbishops of Canter-
bury and York.
They informed him of the result of the meeting of the Bishops
yesterday at Lambeth, when they submitted to them the new Bill,
framed on the lines suggested by Mr. Disraeli and the Lord
Chancellor. These new propositions have at least secured unani-
mity on the part of the Bench of prelates: the High Church
Bishops, especially Salisbury l and Oxford, 2 though still ex-
pressing their opinion that legislation is unnecessary, assenting
to the proposed measures. This is something.
It is clearly understood, that the Prime Minister, and the
Lord Chancellor, have assisted in these deliberations, and in
this correspondence, only as two Churchmen, not without in-
fluence, but in no way or degree binding on your Majesty's
Government.
The only object of Lord Cairns and Mr. Disraeli has been to
further your Majesty's wishes in this matter, which will always
be with them a paramount object.
After the statement of the Archbishop of Canterbury in the
House of Lords next Monday, and the first reading of the Bill,
Mr. Disraeli will summon a Cabinet, probably on Wednesday,
for its 'consideration.
Mr. Disraeli refrains from being sanguine as to this appeal,
but he is supported by the conviction, that his efforts, which
have been unceasing, have at least prevented some mischief from
occurring, and he can only assure your Majesty, that in this,
as he hopes in all things, your Majesty may rely on his efforts
for the advantage of your realm and Church.
So strong was the public feeling of the necessity for
legislation to prevent anarchy that, in spite of the growing
opposition of High Churchmen and of the doubts as to the
machinery suggested, the Bill passed both its first and its
second reading in the Lords without a division; and Salis-
bury appeared as the Government mouthpiece on the latter
occasion. The Government, he said, occupied an inde-
pendent position. He admitted that a check to lawlessness
was desirable ; but he dwelt strongly on the danger of jeopar-
dising the spirit of toleration on which the stately fabric
of the Establishment reposed. The three great schools in
the Church, the Sacramental, the Emotional, and the Philo-
i Moberly. 2 Mackarness.
322 POLITICAL SUCCESS [CHAP, ix
sophical, must be frankly accepted; no attempt must be
made to drive any of them into secession. Cairns grumbled
to Disraeli that he should be sorry if this speech ' was to
continue to be the expression of the manner in which, as a
Cabinet, we looked at questions of this kind.' But Dis-
raeli was maneuvering with great skill to preserve the
unity of his Cabinet in a difficult position. Here is his
account of a critical moment in the Committee stage in the
Lords.
To Lady Bradford.
2, WHITEHALL GARDENS, June 5, 1874. The proceedings of
yesterday in the H. of Lords were the most important in the
history of the present Government. You saw, then, the result
of all my anxious deliberations with the Archbishops for the
last three months and more; of my long counsels with Lord
Cairns; and of the anxious discussions of many Cabinets.
Nothing could be more triumphant: the Archbishops deferring
entirely to the Ministry; and Ld. Salisbury himself supporting
the masterly, and commanding, exposition of the Lord Chancellor.
Every arrangement was brought about, and every calculation
succeeded.
You were in the secret which even the Fairy 1 was not, tho'
I shall now tell her all; but the admirable sangfroid with which
our amendments were divided between Ld. Shaftesbury and the
Bp. of Peterboro' must have been amusing to you. I think
the whole affair, in conception and execution, one of the most
successful, as it certainly is one of the most important, events
in modern political history. I don't think Bismarck really
could have done better; and I believe the Church will be im-
mensely strengthened, notwithstanding Beauchamp will probably
resign and, I fear, our friend Bath is furious. I fear, too, we
are doomed not to meet at Longleat.
I cannot give you a good account of myself. I was well
yesterday, and in good spirits considering I had not had the
solace of seeing you; I looked after affairs in both Houses,
guided the Licensing Bill in the Commons thro' some quick-
sands, and frequently visited the Lords, conferring with D.
of Richmond, Bishops of Peterboro' and Winchester, Ld. Derby,
and Beauchamp during the crisis. The latter came to me twice
while under the Throne, to assure me the Lord Chancellor had
i Queen Victoria. See above, p. 283, and Vol. VI., ch. ' Beaconsfield
and the Queen.'
1874] THE BILL IN THE COMMONS 323
ruined everything, and when I mildly mentioned that Ld. Salis-
bury approved, he said 'the High Ch. thought nothing of Lord
Salisbury.' But, as Derby said, ' if Beauchamp disapproves,
we must be right.'
Our House sate till two o'ck. ; and it was critical to the last,
so I cd. not leave my place. And then I had to write to the
Fairy on the proceedings of both Houses, as I had promised
her. I did it in my room in the H. of C., but when I rose from
my seat, I found the enemy had attacked my left foot. I was
obliged to send a policeman, over half our quarter of the town,
to find me a cab: and here I am with the D. of Manchester, Ld.
Fitzwalter, and Andrew Montagu, with three different appoint-
ments bet [wee] n 12 and 2, and the absolute necessity of being
in the H. of C. at a /2 past 4. ...
[Same date}. . . . I look upon the affair in the Lords as the
greatest thing I have ever done. . . .
Shaftesbury's amendment, which was supported by the
High Churchmen Salisbury, Selborne, and Bath, and in-
serted in the Bill, was the vital one which established a
single lay judge, to be appointed by the two Archbishops,
as the sole tribunal of first instance. The Bishop of Peter-
borough's proposal was to constitute a * neutral zone ' of
practices some affected by High Church, some by Low,
some by Broad which should not be liable to prosecution.
Its exact value in the tactics of the campaign is shown by
a sentence in a letter from Cairns to Disraeli on June 12 :
You may be interested to know that the Bishop of Peter-
borough's clause seems to have perfectly done its work as a
' red herring ' across the scent ; and the probability is that with
the thankful approval of both Archbishops, most of the Bishops,
Shaftesbury, Salisbury, Harrowby, Beauchamp and the Ritual-
ists, it will be withdrawn on Monday, and the remodelled Bill
pass out of Committee with universal consent, if not applause!
Cairns's expectation was fulfilled. So adroitly had Dis-
raeli pulled the wires behind the scenes that the Bill was
read a third time in its amended form without a division
and sent down to the Commons. Neither the Government
nor the Prime Minister had as yet taken any overt responsi-
bility for it ; and it was a respected private member, Russell
324 POLITICAL SUCCESS [CHAP, ix
Gurney, the Recorder of London, who moved the second
reading on Thursday, July 9. On the eve of the debate
the Archbishop of Canterbury wrote to urge, in the Queen's
name, as well as in his own, that it would be highly inex-
pedient to allow the Bill to fail, and so to encourage a
perilous agitation in the autumn. Its progress was at once
seriously threatened by the greatest orator in the House.
Gladstone emerged, by no means for the first time, from his
retirement, delivered an impassioned speech of strong op-
position on the broad ground of liberty, and announced that
he would move six voluminous Resolutions defining the
whole position of the Established Church. For the mo-
ment he carried his hearers away, but a powerful argument
from Harcourt, who reminded the House that the Church
was based on successive Acts of Uniformity, broke the
spell of the great enchanter; and when Hardy appeared to
support Gladstone's case, he was met by noisy demonstra-
tions of disapproval. Disraeli watched the rising temper
of the House and of the public, and drew the conclusion
that his own sentiments about Ritualism were shared by the
great body of his countrymen, and that therefore it was
now the moment to come into the open and associate himself
and the Government with the national resolve. He was no
doubt confirmed in his decision by the insistence of his
Sovereign.
From Queen Victoria.
WINDSOR, July 10, '74. . . . She [the Queen] is deeply grieved
to see the want of Protestant feeling in the Cabinet; Mr. Glad-
stone's conduct is much to be regretted though it is not sur-
prising: but she wrote to him in the strongest terms of the
danger to the Church and of the intention of the Archbishop
to bring forward a measure to try and regulate the shameful
practices of the Ritualists.
He [Disraeli] should state to the Cabinet how strongly the
Queen feels and how faithful she is to the Protestant faith,
to defend and maintain which, her family was placed upon
the Throne! She owns she often asks herself what has become
of the Protestant feeling of Englishmen. . . .
July 11. The Queen thanks Mr. Disraeli for his letter which
1874] 'TO PUT DOWN RITUALISM' 325
is very reassuring. It is a most important question. Mr. Dis-
raeli must have managed his refractory Cabinet most skilfully.
(Telegram in cypher) July 13. Pray show that you are in
earnest and determined to pass this Bill and not to be deterred
by threats of delay.
Accordingly Disraeli announced that Gladstone's Resolu-
tions amounted to a challenge of the whole Reformation set-
tlement, and must be brought to an early issue; and on the
resumption of the second reading debate, he urged that
the Bill should be passed, and passed during the current
session. Its object was, he said adopting a phrase from
Gladstone's speech which has ever since been fathered on
himself * to put down Ritualism.' He protested that he
considered all three parties in the Church, characterised
respectively by ceremony, enthusiasm and free speculation,
to be perfectly legitimate; but he wished to discourage
' practices by a portion of the clergy, avowedly symbolic
of doctrines which the same clergy are bound, in the most
solemn manner, to refute and repudiate.' He was prepared
to treat with reverence Roman Catholic doctrines and cere-
monies, when held and practised by Roman Catholics ; what
he did object to was the * Mass in masquerade.' The
speech elicited the sympathy of the whole House with in-
significant exceptions. The second reading, in spite of
Gladstone's vehement opposition, was carried without a
division; and a Gladstonian of proved fidelity urged his
leader to withdraw Resolutions for which not twenty men
in his own party would vote a suggestion which Glad-
stone was too experienced a Parliamentarian to disregard.
' An immense triumph : Gladstone ran away,' was Dis-
raeli's complacent report to Lady Chesterfield. The en-
thusiasm which carried the second reading without a divi-
sion was prolonged throughout the Committee; the mem-
bers were * mad,' said the protesting Hardy ; and all the
important clauses were passed by vast majorities. Only
one point of detail needs notice. The Archbishops had been
careful to give the Bishop a veto so as to prevent frivolous
326 POLITICAL SUCCESS [CHAP, ix
and irresponsible prosecutions of devoted clergymen. In
the teeth of Gladstone's remonstrances there was inserted a
clause permitting appeal against the veto to the Archbishop
of the Province, and, in spite of Gladstone's renewed as-
sault, and of a plea from both front benches against dis-
turbing the settlement reached in the Lords, the House
maintained its amendment by a majority of twenty-three.
The right of a Bishop to uncontrolled rule in his diocese
at once became the war-cry of High Churchmen, and was
warmly taken up by Salisbury and their other representa-
tives in the Cabinet. ' Affairs are very critical, and I be-
lieve that wrongheaded Marquis will bolt after all,' wrote
Disraeli late in July to Lady Bradford. In the first days
of August it looked as if the Bill would fail and the
Cabinet might be broken up. Disraeli was urgent with the
Archbishop to get the Lords to acquiesce in the Commons'
amendment, without which, in his opinion, the Commons
would refuse to proceed with the Bill. The Archbishop
himself was inclined to share Disraeli's fears, but could
not persuade his suffragans to surrender what they held to
be their unquestionable episcopal rights. Salisbury urged
the House of Lords to disregard the kind of bluster which
was always used when the Peers showed a disposition to
insist on a disputed point. He for himself repudiated the
bugbear of a majority in the House of Commons. The
Lords accordingly struck out the appeal to the Archbishop
of the Province ; and Disraeli was in despair.
To Anne Lady Chesterfield.
Private. 2, WHITEHALL GARDENS, Aug. 5. Things are as
bad as possible: I think the Bill is lost, but worse things will
happen in its train.
I found Carnarvon at the Carlton, dining in a tumultuous
crowd of starving senators. He not only voted against the
Archbishops, Ld. Chanr., and D. of Richmond, but spoke against
them; and did as much harm as Salisbury: more, they say. . . .
Eventually, however, owing largely to the Archbishop's
unwearied diligence in bringing his personal influence to
1874] 'BLUSTEK' AND 'GIBES' 327
bear, Disraeli managed to induce the Commons to surrender
the amendment rather than lose the Bill ; and to be content
with a little strong language in the place of destructive ac-
tion. The Bill, therefore, passed; but the final stage, on
Wednesday, August 5, just before prorogation, was of
dramatic quality. Salisbury's stinging phrase about blus-
ter provoked an outbreak. Harcourt, long Disraeli's friend
in private, made from the front Opposition bench his most
notable approximation to him in public. Amid general
cheers, he appealed to him, as ' a leader who is proud of the
House of Commons and of whom the House of Commons is
proud,' to vindicate its dignity ' against the ill-advised rail-
ing of a rash and rancorous tongue, even though it be the
tongue of a Cabinet Minister, a Secretary of State, and a
colleague.' The speech provoked a satirical rebuke from
Harcourt's leader, Gladstone; but Disraeli responded sym-
pathetically. The necessity of putting down a ' small but
pernicious sect ' was, he said, urgent. The House, there-
fore, would do wisely to pass the Bill, even without the
amendment; and members should not be diverted from the
course which, as wise and grave men, they thought it right
to follow, by any allusions to a speech in the other House of
Parliament.
My noble friend was long a member of this House, and is
well known to many of the members even of this Parliament.
He is a great master of gibes and flouts and jeers; but I do
not suppose there is anyone who is prejudiced against a Member
of Parliament on account of such qualifications. My noble
friend knows the House of Commons well, and he is not per-
haps superior to the consideration that by making a speech of
this kind, and taunting respectable men like ourselves with
being ' a blustering majority ' he might probably stimulate the
amour propre of some individuals to take the course which he
wants, and to defeat the Bill. Now I hope we shall not fall
into that trap. I hope we shall show my noble friend that we
remember some of his manoeuvres when he was a simple member
of this House, and that we are not to be taunted into taking a
very indiscreet step, a step ruinous to all our own wishes and
expectations, merely to show that we resent the contemptuous
phrases of one of our colleagues.
328 POLITICAL SUCCESS [CHAP. EC
It was no doubt chaff, but it was chaff with a sting in it ;
nevertheless Disraeli, having conspicuously asserted himself,
and vindicated the Commons, was anxious that a public
difference should not degenerate into a private quarrel.
To Lord Salisbury.
2, WHITEHALL GARDENS, Aug. 5, 1874. Harcourt attacked your
speech in H. of Lords last night. I conceived a playful reply
to. his invective, but what was not perhaps ill conceived was,
I fear, ill executed, and knowing what figure that style of
rhetoric makes in ' reports,' I write this line to express my hope,
that you will not misconceive what I may have been represented
as saying, or believe, for a moment, that I have any other feel-
ings towards you but those of respect and regard.
Salisbury wrote a good-humoured reply, and took an
opportunity before the prorogation to explain in the Lords
that he had never used the expression ' blustering majority,'
and that when he talked of ' bluster ' he was referring to
the argument that, when there was a difference of opinion
between the two Houses, it was the privilege of the Com-
mons to insist and the duty of the Lords to yield. There
was accordingly no lasting soreness between Disraeli and
his colleague a happy result, creditable to both men, which
many of the public and some even of their friends were slow
to believe.
From Lady Derby.
Private. 23, ST. JAMES'S SQUARE, S.W., Aug. 7, 1874.. . .
I thought you might like to have some private report of the wild
man of your team. 1 I have just seen him, and all is right for
the moment; he seems much pleased with a letter he has had
from you ; he was hard at work at his chemistry and experiments,
which the state of the atmosphere was interfering with, and he
will be off to Dieppe to-night. I have had some anxious moments
this week, and dread a recurrence of difficulties from that
quarter in November when Cabinets recommence.
To Lord Carnarvon.
LONGLEAT, Aug. 8th. I had never seen the newspapers, and
of course took it for granted that Harcourt was strictly accurate
i Here Lady Derby was almost certainly quoting a playful phrase of
Disraeli's own coinage.
1874] HIGH CHURCHMEN AND DISRAELI 329
in his quotation of Lord Salisbury's speech, particularly as
Gavins had complained to me, the night before, of S's violent
speech. It was a mess; but Salisbury has behaved like a gentle-
man, and I earnestly trust that we shall all manage to keep
together. No effort, for that object, will be spared on my
side. . . .
For the moment, and from the Parliamentary standpoint,
Disraeli's championship of the Public Worship Regulation
Bill was an enormous success, and riveted his hold on his
Sovereign, the legislature, and public opinion, without even
dislocating seriously his hesitating Cabinet. But subse-
quent experience of the scandals of imprisoned clergymen
men of high character if doubtful judgment has shown
that he would have done better, in the interest both of the
Church and of his party, to adhere to his original position,
and to discourage and postpone legislation which certainly
brought to the Church not peace but a sword. ' No one could
blame an ordinary Prime Minister for fixing his attention
almost exclusively on a growing lawlessness which seemed
to demand prompt abatement, and ignoring delicate points
of Church tendency and feeling to which Archbishops and
Bishops and a large number of High Church laymen were
equally blind. But a deeper insight might have been ex-
pected from Disraeli, who never failed to recognise the pro-
found importance of the spiritual in human nature, whose
historical studies had made him thoroughly familiar with
the inflammability of High Churchmen, as shown in Dr.
Sacheverell's case, and who had had personal experience, in
the Irish Church controversy, both of their detachment from
political party, and of their electoral weight. He had warn-
ings both from ecclesiastics and from wirepullers. The
Bishop of Brechin (Alexander Forbes) told him in June
that three-fourths of the clergy a class whom the Bishop
called ' proverbially vindictive ' regarded the Bill with ex-
treme discontent. ' That the great mass of the clergy, who
had no sympathy with the effrenata licentia, of the younger
men, should make common cause with them against the Bill
330 POLITICAL SUCCESS [CHAP, ix
shows how strongly they feel, and I put it to you whether
15,000 discontented men of education scattered thro' the
country is not a thing to be dreaded by any Government.'
The gross exaggeration of this statement probably blinded
Disraeli to the substratum of truth which it contained. But
his party manager, Gorst, reported in the same general sense.
' The potential electoral strength of the High Church party/
he wrote on July 29, ' is generally under-estimated on our
side. If they became actively hostile, as the Dissenters were
to Gladstone before the dissolution, we should lose many
seats both in the counties and boroughs.' It has always
been the opinion of some of the shrewdest judges that te-
sentment at Disraeli's action on the Public Worship Regu-
lation Bill counted for much in the readiness of the High
Church leaders to think evil of his policy on the Eastern
Question and to throw themselves ardently into the support
of Gladstone's whirlwind propaganda.
In one of his letters to Archbishop Tait at a critical mo-
ment in the history of the Bill, 1 Disraeli described himself
as ' one who, from the first, has loyally helped you, and
under immense difficulties.' There is no reason to doubt
that, over and above the political game, Disraeli was, in
his conduct of this awkward business, sincerely anxious to
promote the interests of religion in the Church. It is a
shallow cynicism that refuses to see earnestness as well as
insight coupled unfortunately with an inadequate sense
of the historic continuity of the Church in such a passage
as the following from his second reading speech in the House
of Commons.
I have never addressed any body of my countrymen for the
last three years without having taken the opportunity of inti-
mating to them that a great change was occurring in the
politics of the world, that it would be well for them to prepare
for that change, and that it was impossible to conceal from our-
selves that the great struggle between the temporal and the
spiritual power, which had stamped such indelible features upon
i For a detailed history of the controversy on this measure, see
chapters 21 and 24 of the Life of Archbishop Tait.
1874] THE CHURCH AND THE REFORMATION 331
the history of the past, was reviving in our own time. ... I
spoke from strong conviction and from a sense of duty. . . .
When I addressed a large body of my countrymen as lately as
autumn last, I said then, as I say now looking to what is
occurring in Europe, looking at the great struggle between the
temporal and spiritual power which has been precipitated by those
changes of which many in this House are so proud, and of which,
while they may triumph in their accomplishment, they ought
not to shut their eyes to the inevitable consequences I said
then, and say now, that in the disasters or rather in the disturb-
ance and possible disasters which must affect Europe, and which
must to a certain degree sympathetically affect England, it would
be wise for us to rally on the broad platform of the Reformation.
Believing as I do that those principles were never so completely
and so powerfully represented as by the Church of England; be-
lieving that without the learning, the authority, the wealth, and
the independence of the Church of England, the various sects of
the Reformation would by this time have dwindled into nothing,
I called the attention of the country, so far as I could, to the
importance of rallying round the institution of the Church of
England, based upon those principles of the Reformation which
the Church was called into being to represent.
A private letter in the autumn provoked by a magazine
article of Gladstone's on Ritualism further elucidates Dis-
raeli's position.
To Lady Bradford.
2, WHITEHALL GARDENS, Oct. 5. . . . I have read G., but with
difficulty. He is a cumbrous writer. Now for the substance,
however. Nothing. He does not meet the great question, wh.
every instant is becoming greater.
All at least all civilised beings must be for the 'beauty
of holiness.' No one stronger than myself. In ecclesiastical
affairs I require order, taste, ceremony. But these are quite
compatible with a sincere profession of the estab[lishe]d re-
ligion of the country. What I object to is the introduction of
a peculiar set of ceremonies, wh. are avowedly symbolical of
doctrines wh. that Established Church was instituted, and is
supported, to refute and to repudiate. This is what the people
of England are thinking of. His article is mere ' leather and
prunella.' . . .
If Disraeli's well-intentioned efforts had not materially
contributed to strengthen the Church of England, he had
332 POLITICAL SUCCESS [CHAP. DC
the satisfaction this session of settling the affairs of the
Church of Scotland on a generally acceptable basis. The
question of patronage had agitated Scottish churchmen for
300 years. There was a strong feeling in Presbyterian
Scotland, thoroughly conformable to its special type of
Christianity, that the congregation was the proper author-
ity to select the minister; and it was largely because this
privilege was denied in the Establishment and the patronage
rested to a great extent in the Crown and in the hands of
laymen that there had been the momentous secession of the
Free Kirk in the forties. But even in the Establishment
there had been several variations of custom, and on the ad-
vice of Lord-Advocate Gordon on the one hand, and of the
Duke of Richmond, a great lay patron, on the other, Dis-
raeli determined to settle the vexed question by a universal
transfer of lay patronage to the congregations. The Bill
passed the Lords with ease, being blessed by that eminent
Presbyterian Liberal, the Duke of Argyll; but Gladstone,
enticed by the lure of ecclesiastical controversy, appeared in
the Commons to make a vigorous protest, mainly on the
strange ground that it would be an injustice to the Free Kirk
to remedy a grievance in the conditions of establishment
which caused them to secede ! He further expressed a fear
lest the measure should hasten on disestablishment, a policy
of which he professed himself ' no idolater,' though he was
willing that his memory should be judged by his dealings
with the Church of Ireland. Disraeli, in reply, naturally
expressed the hope that upon Gladstone's tombstone there
would not be inscribed the destruction of another Church.
It was not Gladstone's fault that his epitaph lacked this ad-
ditional embellishment. In later years he gave in his ad-
hesion to the policy of disestablishment for Scotland which
in 1874 he professed to dread; but the removal of the
grievance of patronage, which had been effected in his
despite by Disraeli's prudence, had by that time so strength-
ened the Church of Scotland in the affections of the Scottish
people that the assault was repulsed without serious diffi-
1874] OTHER ECCLESIASTICAL BILLS 333
culty ; and the whole current of Scottish opinion has now for
many years set in the direction, not of disestablishment,
but of reunion of all Presbyterians in one national Church.
'Should this desirable consummation be reached, Scotsmen
should not forget Disraeli's important share in creating the
predisposing conditions.
There was one other ecclesiastical measure, introduced by
Ministers in July, which gave Disraeli some trouble, and
did not enhance the reputation of the Government. This
was an endowed Schools Bill, which modified the policy of
Gladstonian legislation, by restoring to the Church of Eng-
land certain schools on which their founder had impressed a
specially Church character, but which had been thrown open
indiscriminately by the last Parliament. However the-
oretically defensible, it was hardly an act of wisdom to dis-
turb an arrangement accepted by Parliament and already in
force; and the Liberals, under Gladstone's lead, came to-
gether with some animation to protest. Disraeli saw that
it was desirable to abandon a course which Salisbury had
pressed upon his colleagues; so he amusingly assured the
House that the clauses of the Government Bill were so ob-
scure as to be unintelligible to him, and he must therefore
withdraw them for reconsideration. The Bill was accord-
ingly reduced to a measure merely to substitute Charity
Commissioners appointed by the Tory Government for En-
dowed Commissioners appointed by their predecessors.
To Queen Victoria.
HOUSE OF COMMONS, Wednesday, 1 a.m. [July 25, 1874.]
Mr. Disraeli with his humble duty to your Majesty:
The debate on endowed schools has ended with a good, ma-
jority for the Government; between 60 and 70.
What is of equal importance, with a much better tone in the
House: everything good-tempered and conciliatory.
The Cabinet agreed to many concessions yesterday, though
with difficulty: Lord Salisbury stood almost alone, but he was
very unmanageable. It is entirely his Bill, but had Mr. Dis-
raeli refused to sanction it, which he only did after many great
alterations by himself and Lord Derby, Lord Salisbury would
334 POLITICAL SUCCESS [CHAP, n
never have consented to your Majesty's Government passing the
'Public Worship Bill'; and that was all-important.
From, Queen Victoria.
Confidential. OSBORNE, July 27, '74. The Queen has re-
ceived Mr. Disraeli's letter of yesterday. She sees all the diffi-
culties and herself has regretted that the Church Regulation
Bill could not have been delayed till next year, on account of
the inconvenience and difficulty it caused to the new Govern-
ment: but it was impossible.
As however Mr. Disraeli always likes to have the Queen's
opinion, she will state to him openly what she thinks it most
important for him and his government to avoid, in order to
enable them to carry on the government for a length of time,
and thus to save the country from frequent crisises.
He will recollect that when he left office in '68 the Queen
urged upon him the importance of keeping the Conservative
party to what it really ought to be, viz.: Conservative, and not
to attempt to be more liberal than the Liberal party, which the
passing of the Reform Bill (which was forced no doubt upon
the late Lord Derby) rather led them to appear to be.
Now, while being decidedly still of this opinion, which the
Queen considers to be essential to the wellbeing of the British
Constitution and safety of the Crown, it is at the same time
equally important that there should be no attempt at a retro-
grade policy which would alarm the country and injure the
present Government. The country has great confidence in Mr.
Disraeli, but not so much in those of his adherents, not to say
colleagues, who show a disposition to urge such a policy as she
has named above. This would be, the Queen need not say to
Mr. Disraeli, very dangerous; and while improvements, modifi-
cations and alterations may no doubt in many cases where
new systems have not worked well be very desirable and even
necessary, any reversal of principle ought to be avoided, even
for the sake of precedent. The Queen feels sure that, with Mr.
Disraeli's very enlightened views, he would be as much against
this as any one; still this Endowed Schools Bill has been by
many looked at in this light and she trusts that Mr. Disraeli
will take any opportunity he may have to show that this is not
the policy of the Government.
Disraeli's letters to his intimate friends give a kaleido-
scopic view of the ups and downs of the Parliamentary
session at its height. Here, first of all, are some extracts
1874] PURCHASES FOB NATIONAL GALLERY 335
which show his own personal exertions in order to augment
the art treasures of the nation.
To Lady Bradford.
H. OP COMM., June 2, 1874. . . . I mean to rise early to-
morrow and go to Christie's. If the Barker pictures are as rare
and wondrous as I hear, it shall go hard if the nation does not
possess them. I always remember with delight that in 1867-8,
on my own responsibility, I bought for the nation the Blacas
collection of gems 50,000 !
If I could give our gallery some pictures of equal quality,
one wd. not have lived in vain.
2, WHITEHALL GARDENS, June 4. . . . I have been closeted
the whole morning with Mr. Burton, the Director of the National
Gallery, concocting my plans for Saturday's sale. I believe it
will end in the H. of Comm. repudiating my purchase, and I
shall have to appeal to Rothschild, Lord Bradford, and some
other great friends, to take the treasures off my hands, and
relieve me, by a raffle, from my sesthetical embarrassments. We
must be very silent till Saturday, as I don't want any one to
know the Government is a purchaser. . . .
10, DOWNING STREET, June 17. . . . When the debate over the
pictures comes off, there will be some fun. . . .
July 28. . . . After all, the great attack, so long threatened,
about my pictures, ended in vapor. I thought once the vote
wd. have passed unchallenged, and in silence; but Mr. Hankey
forced me up, and the purchase 1 was sanctioned amid cheers
from both sides. , . .
To Anne Lady Chesterfield.
H. OF COMM., June 20, 1874. A hurried line. Yesterday was
a very hard day in the House. The Opposition got so irritated
at all our new proposals in the Licensing Bill, which are very
popular, that they waxed factious, and resolved to delay business,
and throw over the Bill till next Monday. I had a great force
and beat them throughout the night by large majorities.
My new troops got blooded, and begged me to sit up dividing
till 5 o'ck. in the morning; and I am not sure I shd. not have
done so, had I not found out that I could appoint a morning
sitting without notice. This quite turned their flank. We
met this morning accordingly, and have carried the Bill through.
A great triumph! . . .
i The pictures bought included a Piero della Francesca, a Pinturic-
chio, a Luca Signorelli, and two Botticellis.
336 POLITICAL SUCCESS [CHAP, ix
To Lady Bradford.
2, WHITEHALL GARDENS, July 3. . . . Yesterday's debate was
satisfactory. I think Home Rule received its coup de grace.
Hartingto"n had spoken in a manner worthy of the subject,
and his own position, on the previous night. Yesterday Beach
quite confirmed his rising reputation in the House, and the
public confidence in my discrimination of character and capacity.
Lowe was very good; terse, logical, and severely humorous; and
your friend was not displeased with himself, wh., for him, you
know is saying a great deal. . . . The most effective passage in
my speech was the reference to the three Irish Prime Ministers
I had known, the three Irish Viceroys, etc., etc. All this in the
synopsis in The Times appears; but in the report it is a hash,
and the 3 Irish Viceroys are turned into three judges. A curi-
ous piece of ignorance is ' morbid sentiment ' turned into a
' mere bit of sentiment,' 1 wh. is a feeble vulgarism. . . .
Disraeli's speech, on the Home Rule debate was one of
his very happiest performances. Its keynote was a banter-
ing protest against the absurd insistence of the Irish in
proclaiming to the world that they were a subjugated people,
a conquered race. The House seized the point with im-
mediate sympathy and punctuated the sentences in which he
elaborated it with frequent cheers. ' I have always been
surprised/ he said, f that a people gifted with so much
genius, so much sentiment, such winning qualities, should
be I am sure they will pardon my saying it ; my remark
is an abstract and not a personal one so deficient in self-
respect.' He denied that the Irish were conquered ; ' they
are proud of it ; I deny that they have any ground for that
pride.' England had been subjugated quite as much, but
never boasted of it. Both the Normans and Cromwell had
conquered England, before they conquered Ireland. He
was opposed to Home Rule in the interests of the Irish them-
selves. ' I am opposed to it because I wish to see at this
important crisis of the world that perhaps is nearer ar-
riving than some of us suppose a united people welded in
i A natural, almost excusable, mistake. In the shorthand note
' morbid ' would be written ' mrbd,' and ' mere bit ' ' mr bt ' a dif-
ference of only one letter and a space.
1874] HOME RULE AND HOME RULERS 337
one great nationality; and because I feel that, if we sanc-
tion this policy, if we do not cleanse the Parliamentary
bosom of this perilous stuff, we shall bring about the disin-
tegration of the Kingdom and the destruction of the Empire.'
To Lady Bradford.
2. WHITEHALL GARDENS, July 31. A most severe day yester-
day, the Irish members having announced their determination,
whatever might happen, not to allow the continuance of what
are called their ' Coercion Acts ' to pass ; and their success was
inevitable with an adequate quantity of staying power.
I was in my seat 12 hours from 4 to 4 1 ! a most exciting
scene, with many phases of character. At first they were in
serried rank, and very firm and resolute : our men the same, and
Dyke ordered, in the great dining-room, a grilled bone and cham-
pagne supper at 2 o'ck. to be ready for the Tories.
As the evening advanced, the Liberal party, who had ostenta-
tiously informed us that nothing in the world wd. induce them
to act with the Home Rulers, could no longer resist the oppor-
tunity of embarrassing, or defeating, the Government, and joined
the rebels in force; but were defeated our smallest majority
being 61.
Then about two, the Irishry began quarrelling among them-
selves, the more respectable, Butt himself, Sullivan, a clever
fellow, who wants to be the leader, and Mitchell Henry, an Eng-
lish millionaire tho ? an Irish member, and who supplies the
funds of the party, getting ashamed of the orgies of faction in
wh. they found themselves being steeped; and about three o'ck.,
when they left the House, when the factious divisions took place,
they were absolutely hissed by their own assumed creatures. And
a little before 4 o'ck. we tired out, or shamed, even these rapscal-
lions, and the Bill went thro' Committee amid loud cheers.
I broke their ranks by keeping my temper and treating Butt
and his intimate colleagues as gentlemen, wh. they certainly
are not; but their vanity is insatiable, and these fierce rebels
did nothing but pay me compliments. . . .
10, DOWNING STREET, Aug. 1. . . . We have had a long Cabi-
net, and I have had many deputations and interviews; business
gets thick the last days, and gentlemen get audiences wh. they
asked for months ago. You wd. have been amused if you had
seen and heard all I have done since the Cabinet closed at three
o'ck.: Sir Henry Rawlinson and the President of the Royal So-
i ' The hardest life I ever went thro',' Disraeli told Lady Chesterfield.
338 POLITICAL SUCCESS [CHAP, n
ciety and Admiral Sherard Osborn, who want a new polar expedi-
tion; and Owens College, with a posse of professors and M.P.'s,
who want 100 thousand pounds and to become a University ; and
Mr. who says his brother (late M.P,) is low-spirited that,
after 40 years of Parly, service, ' there is nothing now attached
to his name' would like to be a Privy Councillor, or baronet,
and wd. not refuse an Irish peerage, and so on. . . .
The tone of complacency which Disraeli adopts with
reference to his achievements during the session is fully
justified by the comments of the chief Parliamentary ob-
server of the day.
Foremost in official position, as in personal success, is the
Premier. !Nlever did the peculiar genius of Disraeli (it is a
sublime sort of tact) shine more transcendently than during the
past session. He has at no period of his career risen higher as
a Parliamentary speaker, while his management of the House
is equalled only by that of Lord Palmerston. Not in the zenith
of his popularity after the election of 1868 did Gladstone come
near his great rival in personal hold upon the House of Commons.
. . . Disraeli's slow, deliberate rising in the course of a debate
is always the signal for an instant filling up of the House and a
steady settling down to the point of attention, the highest compli-
ments that can be paid to a speaker.
At the outset of his current Premiership, Disraeli fixed upon
a policy of polite consideration, to which he was the more drawn
as certain members of the Ministry he succeeded were notorious
for the brusqueness of their manner. The addition of a bit of
banter and of a dash of serio-comicality lent a spiciness to his
speech which was always relished, and was never allowed to reach
the proportion at which the mixture left an unpleasant taste upon
the Parliamentary palate. . . . Suffering acutely from gout,
Disraeli has stuck to his post with Spartan-like patience ; and one
of his most successful speeches, if not, on the whole, his best
speech of the session that on the Home Rule question was
delivered after he had been sitting for four hours with folded
arms on the Treasury Bench, visibly tortured by twinges from
his slippered and swollen feet. 1
The somewhat acute difference which had arisen between
Disraeli and the High Churchmen did not prevent him from
fulfilling an engagement to pay a visit to his friend, Lord
i Sir Henry Lucy's Diary of Two Parliaments, Vol. I., p. 40.
1874] THE QUEEN'S CONSIDERATION 339
Bath, a conspicuous member of that party, at Longleat im-
mediately after the close of the session. He came direct
from Osborne, experiencing on the journey the embarrassing
attentions which await popular statesmen at the hands of
their admirers. Bath told Mr. George Russell that Disraeli
was the dullest guest he ever entertained at Longleat; and
Disraeli's own accounts suggest that he did not find himself
in congenial society.
To Lady Bradford.
LONGLEAT, WARMINSTER, Aug. 7. . . . Osborne was lovely, its
green shades refreshing after the fervent glare of the voyage,
and its blue bay full of white sails. The Faery sent for me '
the instant I arrived. I can only describe my reception by tell-
ing you that I really thought she was going to embrace me.
She was wreathed with smiles, and as she tattled, glided about
the room like a bird. She told me it was * all owing to my
courage and tact,' and then she said ' To think of your having the
gout all the time ! How you must have suffered ! And you ought
not to stand now. You shall have a chair ! '
Only think of that ! I remember that feu Ld. Derby, after one
of his severest illnesses, had an audience of Her Majesty, and
he mentioned it to me, as a proof of the Queen's favor, that Her
Majesty had remarked to him ' how sorry she was she cd. not
ask him to be seated.' The etiquette was so severe.
I remembered all this as she spoke, so I humbly declined the
privilege, saying I was quite well, but wd. avail myself of her
gracious kindness if I ever had another attack. . . .
I have very bad stationery 1 here, but I have sent for some
official stores from D.S. to-day, and shall then get on better. If
you find this a stupid epistle, it is the stationery. Their paper,
muddy ink, and pens, wh. are made from the geese on a common,
entirely destroy any little genius I have, and literally annihilate
my power of expression. . . .
My travelling from S.hampton to Warminster was very fatigu-
ing. I had to wait at S. and also at Salisbury; an hour at each
place. They had telegraphed along the line to keep compart-
ments for me, so wherever I stopped there was an enthusiastic
group 'Here he is' being the common expression, followed by
three times three, and little boys running after me. You know
Jhow really distressed I am at all this. And I had a headache,
and wanted a cup of tea, and made fruitless efforts to get one.
i At Longleat.
340 POLITICAL SUCCESS [CHAP. K
I always found outside of my chamber, wh. had been lent me by
the manager, a watchful band. I got a cup of tea at Salisbury,
however, from apparently a most haughty young lady; but I
did not do her justice. She not only asked me for an autograph,
but to write it in her favorite work, Henrietta Temple! I could
have refused the Duchess of Manchester, but absolutely had not
pluck to disobey this Sultana. I never felt more ashamed of
myself in my life.
At Salisbury, I found Lady Paget, who was going to Long-
leat with her son, a very young Etonian. Sir Augustus had
travelled by an earlier train with the luggage. I cd. not avoid
giving her a place in my compartment, and she talked, and with
her usual cleverness, the whole way: an hour of prattle on all
subjects. . . .
We did not get to L. till 9, and tho' we dressed in ten minutes,
people who dine at 8 don't like dining at 9. We were seven
at table. ... I sate by Lady B. but with a racking headache,
rare with me, and not in very good spirits, for if Bath was
rather furious for your defalcation, I cannot say it added to my
happiness. A more insipid, and stupid, and gloomy dinner I
never assisted at, and I felt conscious I added my ample quota
to the insipidity and the stupidity and the gloom. Lady P[aget]
tried to rally the scene, but she had exhausted her resources
bet [wee] n Salisbury and Warm[inste]r.
It was only two hours before we all retired, and had I been
younger, and still in the days of poetry, I shd. have gone away
in the night, wh. I used to do in my youth, when I was disgusted.
This morning things are a little brighter. The Baths are
appeased. . . .
Perhaps, and probably, I ought to be pleased. I can only tell
you the truth, wh. I always do, tho' to no one else. I am wearied
to extinction and profoundly unhappy.
Aug. 8. . . . Of all the people here, I like best the chatelaine.
She is very kind and has offered more than once, and unaffectedly,
to be my secretary, and copy things for me. Bath says she
writes an illegible hand. I rather admire it. It reminds me
somewhat of missals and illuminated MSS. . . .
Aug. 11. . . . Monday (yesterday) Lady Bath drove me to
Frome to see Bennett's famous church, with a sanctuary where
' lay people ' are requested not to place their feet, and among
other spiritual pageantry, absolutely a Calvary and of good
sculpture. The church is marvellous; exquisitely beautiful, and
with the exception of some tawdriness about the high altar, in
admirable taste. .
1874] VISITS TO LONGLEAT AND BRETBY 341
The priest, or sacristan, or whatever he was, who showed us
over the church, and exhibited the sacred plate, etc., looked rather
grimly upon me after my anti-ritualistic speeches; and, as Lady
Bath observed, refrained from exhibiting the ' vestments.' But
I praised everything, and quite sincerely; and we parted, if not
fair friends, at least fair foes. The world found out who was
there, and crowded into the church. They evidently were not
Bennett's congregation; however, they capped me very much,
wh. pleased Lady Bath, who would drive me, in consequence,
round the town in triumph. . . .
After leaving Longleat and spending a couple of days
at Fonthill and one in London, Disraeli passed the early
part of the autumn, with the exception of a week at Bal-
moral, as the guest of Lady Chesterfield at Bretby; though
he made a short excursion to the Bradfords at their villa
on Lake Windermere, and would have visited them at
Weston in October but for the death of Lord Forester, the
brother of the two ladies. Although he was seemingly not
attacked by gout till the middle of September, his letters
suggest that he was in poor health and in poor spirits.
To Lady Bradford. <
10, DOWNING STREET, Aug. 14. . . . You seem surprised I
went to Fonthill. I went for distraction. I cannot bear being
alone, and when I join others, I am wearied. I do not think there
is really any person much unhappier than I am, and not fan-
tastically so. Fortune, fashion, fame, even power, may increase,
and do heighten, happiness, but they cannot create it. Happiness
can only spring from the affections. I am alone, with nothing
to sustain me, but, occasionally, a little sympathy on paper, and
that grudgingly. It is a terrible lot, almost intolerable. . . .
BRETBY PARK, Aug. 20. . . . I came down here very much
out of sorts, but the kindly methodical life here the regular
hours, the tranquillity of the sylvan scene, and a delightful com-
panion, who has the sweetness and simplicity of a flower, have
combined much to restore me. And increased tone brings that
serenity of mind, wh. ought to content one, instead of those
romantic thoughts that tear the heart and spirit, wh. ought to
vanish with youth, and certainly ought not to be cherished by
any being who pays rates and taxes.
Southey wrote a very remarkable poem on the falls of Lodore,
wh. imitates the rush and crash and splashing and hissing of
342 POLITICAL SUCCESS [CHAP, ix
the waters. It is difficult to find his poems anywhere nowadays,
but, if they can be found, I should think it must be at Winder-
mere. Consult John Manners anent.
Southey was a poet, but he could not condense or finish. He
was gifted with a fatal facility. He was in fact an improvisa-
tore. And this is strange, because as a prose writer he is almost
without a rival, and has none superior to him in polish and
precision. . . .
BRETBY PARK, Aug. 21. [My letters] are weak, inconsistent,
incoherent, and, without meaning it, insincere: the reflex of a
restless, perplexed, hampered, and most unhappy spirit. . . .
Your sister has thrice, in five days, drawn me aside, to ask if
anything had happened, I looked so unhappy. . . . x
To Anne Lady Chesterfield.
ST. CATHERINE'S, WINDERMERE, Aug. 30. . . . I visited with in-
terest, the scene of Wordsworth's life and poetry. I shall recur
to his, perhaps, not hitherto sufficiently appreciated volumes with
much interest after gazing on the mountains, the woods, and
waterfalls of Rydal.
All has gone here, on the whole, pretty well : Selina charming,
tho' fitful, and my Lord absolutely friendly.
Whatever happens to me in the world I shall always love you.
To Lady Bradford.
BRETBY, Sept. 1. My journey was not very successful, for my
train was always too late to fit in with Bradshaw, so I had to
wait an hour at Stafford] and at Lichfield. But after all, this
is not a mischance that ever much disturbs me: one can always
think. I got in good time, and they were congratulating me on
having a quiet dinner (wh. by the bye I wanted), . . . when, lo
and behold, as we were about to sit down to table, Mr. Scott 2
in an affected whisper, audible to everybody, and looking very
pompous, announced a messenger from the foreign office on very
urgent business. I was obliged to go out; and found matters
as he described. Had I been at Weston or Windermere I don't
know whether the secret wd. have been kept exactly, for I have
told you one or two before this, and I know the Master of the
Horse to be very discreet; but here things are different. I read
the despatch, and found it utterly impossible to reply to it off-
hand : it required, however urgent, much deliberation. So I made
up my mind to sleep upon it, and send a telegram for the moment.
* In answer to this letter, it appears that Lady Bradford called
Disraeli ' a humbug.'
2 Lady Chesterfield's servant.
1874] STORY OF A DESPATCH 343
But then I had to telegraph in cypher, and you know what that
is, from George Paget, who was a whole morning over one line.
However I managed it at last, and tried to return with a smiling
and easy mien to my dinner. But, hungry as I was, having
touched nothing but my St. Catherine's sandwich, and that be-
fore noon, my appetite was nothing to the ravenous eyes of
Lady A., 1 who exhausted all her manoeuvres to obtain an inkling
of what had occurred.
I had a good dinner all the same, and indulged in some good
claret, convincing myself it was a wine favorable to judgment:
then we had a rubber which I lost as usual, and my wits were so
woolgathering that it was fortunate I did not revoke, as I did
at Weston.
I slept very well till five o'ck., when I woke, but with my mind
quite clear, and what, at night, had seemed difficulties were all
removed; so I opened my shutters and wrote my despatch in
pencil in bed. By the time my fire was lit, it was done, and I
had nothing left to do but to write it in ink with very few altera-
tions; and the messenger was off by the very earliest train. . . .
You will say ' Here is much ado about nothing. Who cares for
his despatches and his telegrams ? '
That is true in a certain sense; but everything interests, if
you are interested in a person. I assure you I like to know
very much how you are all getting on. You need never want
matter in writing to me if you will only give me a bulletin of
the sayings and doings of your circle the one, after all, wh.
interests me more than any other family in England. . . .
To Anne Lady Chesterfield.
[AT BRETBY] Sept. 2. A piece of great social news! Don't
tell them directly, but make them guess a little. A member of
the late Government, of high rank, and great wealth, has gone
over to the Holy Father!
Who is it? No less a personage than the Marq. of Ripon,
KG.! ! !
Shall not be able to come down to breakfast, as bag very
heavy, and if I don't work now, I shall not get my walk with
my dear companion.
From Bretby Disraeli went for his second and final visit
to Balmoral, stopping for a week-end with the John Man-
ners at Birnam on the way.
i Maria Lady Ailesbury, a friend both of Lady Chesterfield's and of
Disraeli's, was generally known in society as ' Lady A.'
344 POLITICAL SUCCESS [CHAP, ix
To Lady Bradford.
BALMORAL CASTLE, Sept. 10. . . . The Faery here is more than
kind ; she opens her heart to me on all subjects, and shows me her
most secret and most interesting correspondence. She asked me
here for a week, but she sent to-day to say that she hoped I
wd. not so limit my visit, and that I would remain at least to
the end of next week, and so on. . . .
The Derbys dined here yesterday, and with Princess Beatrice
and Lady Churchill made up the 8 1 . . . . The Dss. [of Edin-
burgh] was full of life, 2 asked the Queen at dinner whether she
had read Lothair. The Queen answered, I thought, with happy
promptitude, that she was the first person who had read it. Then
the Duchess asked her Gracious Majesty, whether she did not
think Theodora a divine character; the Queen looked a little
perplexed and grave. It wd. have been embarrassing, had the
Dss. not gone on, rattling away, and begun about Mr. Phoabus
and the ' two Greek ladies,' saying that for her part she shd.
like to live in a Greek isle. . . .
Sept. 12. . . . I have not been well here, and had it not been
for Sir William Jenner, might have been very ill. All is as-
cribed to my posting in an open carriage from Dunkeld to Bal-
moral, but the day was delicious, and I was warmly clothed and
never apprehended danger. I felt' queer on Wednesday, tho' I
dined with the Queen on that day. Thursday Sir William kept
me to my room. I have never left the Castle once. On Friday
I paid Prince Leopold a visit, who wanted to see me, and, later in
the day, the Queen sent for me, and I had a very long and most
interesting audience. She told me that Sir Wm. had reported
to her that I had no fever, and therefore she had sent for me;
otherwise she wd. have paid me a visit. She opened all her heart
and mind to me, and rose immensely in my intellectual estima-
tion. Free from all shyness, she spoke with great animation
and happy expression, showed not only perception, but discrimina-
tion, of character, and was most interesting and amusing. She
said I looked so well that she thought I cd. dine with her.
But when Sir William came home from his drive with P.
Leopold and paid me his afternoon visit, he said the symptoms
were not at all good ; put me on a mustard poultice on the tipper
part of my back, gave me some other remedies and said I must
1 The other four being the Queen, the Duke and Duchess of Edin-
burgh, and Disraeli.
2 Writing to Lady Chesterfield, Disraeli described the Duchess at
dinner on the previous day as ' most lively,' and as breaking through
' all the etiquette of courtly conversation. Even the Queen joined in
her vivacity, and evidently is much influenced by her.'
1874] ILLNESS AT BALMORAL 345
not think of dining, or of leaving my room. The remedies have
been most successful; an incipient congestion of the lung seems
quite removed, and he does not doubt of my being able to travel
on Tuesday.
This morning the Queen paid me a visit in my bedchamber.
What do you think of that ? x
The G. Duchess 2 is in despair at not seeing me : she is reading
Froude, and wanted to talk it over with me. The Derbys also
came to see me to-day. . . .
You will understand from all this that I am a sort of prisoner
of state, in the tower of a castle; royal servants come in and
silently bring me my meals ; a royal physician two or three times
a day to feel my pulse, etc., and see whether I can possibly endure
the tortures that await me. I am, in short, the man in the Iron
Masque. . . .
To Lord Salisbury.
BALMORAL CASTLE, Sept. 13. Being here, I attended to your
business at once. . . .
Our royal mistress is well, and looks extremely so. She takes
the greatest interest in the Ripon incident, and is most curious
to ascertain, who was the artist, who cooked so dainty a dish.
H.M. believes neither Manning, nor Capel. . . .
The Ld. Chan [cello] r is only a short distance from me, as the
crow flies, but a day's journey, from the mountainous ranges.
He wants to see me before I return to the South, but it is difficult.
The Derbys seem quite delighted with Abergeldie and its
birchen groves. Not that the court see much of them ' they are
so devoted to each other.' . . .
From Balmoral Disraeli went back, still unwell, to
Bretby, and there on Saturday, September 19, to use his
own words, ' fell into the gout, and that very badly.' The
attack came in time to prevent his committing a great im-
prudence. Zealous to perform his high duties with effi-
ciency, and realising the importance to the Prime Minister
of having some first-hand knowledge of a country which,
like Ireland, was necessarily so constantly in mind, he had
proposed to spend part of his first vacation after accepting
office in a visit to the island. The arrangement was that
i ' What do you think,' Disraeli wrote to Lady Chesterfield, ' of
receiving your Sovereign in slippers and a dressing-gown ? '
The Duchess of Edinburgh, who was a Russian Grand Duchess.
346 POLITICAL SUCCESS [CHAP, ix
he was to arrive in Dublin as the Viceroy's guest on Satur-
day, October 24, and then visit Killarney, Cork, Waterford,
Derry, Giant's Causeway, and Belfast, delivering speeches
in the three capital cities, and only returning to England
just in time for the autumn Cabinets in the middle of No-
vember. It was an anxious undertaking for a man in his
seventieth year, full of gout, and therefore needing rest be-
tween two arduous sessions instead of a wearisome progress
of this kind; and the nearer the date aproached, the more
serious the difficulties appeared. * What am I to speak
about, as politics are out of the question ? ' he wrote to
Corry on September 10 from Balmoral. A few days later
Derby, with sound common sense, wrote to dissuade his
friend and leader from carrying the mad scheme through.
From Lord Derby.
ABERGELDIE, ABERDEEN, Sept. 15, 1874. More I think of your
Irish tour, less I like it: and for various reasons.
First you are overdoing yourself. No man can go through
two years of such work, as yours, leading the H. of C. and all
the rest of it, without an interval of complete repose. You are
depriving yourself of yours without any strong reason for so
doing that I can see: and in the interest of the party and the
public, I think you are wrong. We ought to be in for 3 or 4
years, and neither you nor anyone else can keep up the pace at
which you have started for that length of time.
Everybody would understand the case and nobody would con-
sider you as either invalided or indolent if you put off your Irish
expedition on that ground alone. Indeed a quiet interval is in
your position almost necessary in order to consider what shall be
proposed to the Cabinet. When Cabinets begin it is too late
for any other work than discussion of details.
But, apart from personal reasons, wbat are you to say to the
Irish? Every question in Ireland whether of the past, present
or future, is a party question. It is not in the power of man to
deal with topics of public interest in such a way as to please
Ultramontanes and Orangemen. The moderates are few and
feeble what the press is you know. You must be pressed to do
local jobs which you must refuse to release political prisoners
to give fixity of tenure in land and to receive deputations
suggesting, with the utmost loyalty, some perfectly impracticable
1874] IRISH VISIT ABANDONED 347
modification of Home Rule. You cannot be decently civil to
Catholics without offending Protestants, and vice versa. The
only point upon which both parties agree is the duty of spending
more English money on Irish soil.
Your knowledge will fill up the rough outline which I am draw-
ing of your difficulties. And why incur them? We are doing
very well. A moderately extensive programme of well-considered
measures will satisfy Parliament for next year. There is abso-
lutely not a cry of any kind that has attracted the least public
attention of late. The only strong feeling that I can trace in
the public mind is anti-Catholic feeling: and that you cannot
gratify and may possibly have to run against in the course of
an Irish progress.
Pray excuse unasked advice: though in fact you did partly
ask for it when we met. If you modify the large programme
which has been marked out for you, is it not worth considering
whether the postponement of the whole affair, leaving hopes for
another year, will not give less offence than the curtailment of
parts ?
Derby's reasoning may have shaken Disraeli's purpose;
in any case the gouty attack at Bretby put the Irish visit
out of the question. The Queen expressed a hope that he
might ' some other year be able to go there, when he is quite
well, for it would do good ' ; but the opportunity never re-
curred. Consequently Disraeli never set foot in Ireland;
Gladstone was once there, for three weeks, in October, 1877.
To those who reflect upon the prolonged contentions of the
rivals over Irish policy and the dominating hold which
Ireland obtained over Gladstone's later career, these facts
must seem incredible, were they not true.
To Lady Bradford.
(In pencil.) BRETBY PARK, Monday [Sept. 21]. I am too
ill to write even to you. A severe attack of gout has been the
culmination of my trials, and tho' it has removed, or greatly
mitigated, dangerous symptoms, it adds to my suffering and my
prostration. The dear angel here is more than kindness, but
that only makes me more feel what an enormous outrage on her
hospitality is the whole affair. . . .
I sit in silence quite unable to read, musing over the wondrous
12 months that have elapsed since this time last year. I have
348 POLITICAL SUCCESS [CHAP, n
had at least my dream. And if my shattered energies never rally,
wh. considering that these attacks, more or less, have been going
on for 6 months, is what I must be prepared for, I have at any
rate reached the pinnacle of power, and gauged the sweetest and
deepest affections of 'the heart. Adieu !
It was nearly a fortnight before Disraeli was able to be
moved, and then, after passing through town to consult
Sir William Gull, he went home to remain quietly at
Hughenden till the November Cabinets were approaching.
To Anne Lady Chesterfield.
HUGHENDEN MANOR, Oct. 23. . . . There is no repose. The
Court is a department in itself.
However the Ministry are in great favor. The adieu of the
Queen, after the Council, to the Duke of Richmond, was ' I wish
you to remain in as long as you possibly can.' He had quickness
eno' to reply ' That is exactly, Madam, what I and my colleagues
intend to do.'
This letter really must be for your own eye and ear. . . .
To Lady Bradford.
HUGHENDEN MANOR, Oct. 26. . . . I like him [M. Corry]
very much, better than any man : but, as a rule and except upon
business, male society is not much to my taste. Indeed I want
to see only one person, whom I never see, and I want to see her
always. Otherwise I would rather be alone. Solitude has no
terrors for me, and when I am well, has many delights. But one
can't be always reading and thinking; one wants sympathy, and
the inspiration of the heart. . . .
I have not seen Chas. Greville's book, but have read a good deal
of it. It is a social outrage. And committed by one who was
always talking of what he called 'perfect gentlemen.' I don't
think he can figure now in that category. I knew him intimately.
He was the vainest being I don't limit myself to man that
ever existed ; and I don't forget Cicero and Lytton Bulwer x ; but
Greville wd. swallow garbage, and required it. Offended selflove
is a key to most of his observations. He lent me a volume of his
MS. once to read; more modern than these; I found, when he
was not scandalous, he was prolix and prosy a clumsy, wordy
writer. The loan was made a propos of the character of Peel,
i In the corresponding letter of the same date to Lady Chesterfield
this phrase takes the more clear-cut form : ' I have read Cicero, and
was intimate with Lytton Bulwer,'
1874] THE GEEVILLE MEMOIRS 349
which I drew in George Bentinck's Life, and which, I will pre-
sume to say, tho' you may think me as vain as Greville for say-
ing so, is the only thing written about Peel wh. has any truth or
stuff in it. Greville was not displeased with it, and as a reward,
and a treat, told me that he wd. confide to me his character of
Peel, and he gave me the sacred volume, wh. I bore with me,
with trembling awe, from Bruton St. to Gros[veno]r Gate. If
ever it appears, you, who have taste for style and expression,
will, I am sure, agree with me that, as a portrait painter, Gre-
ville is not a literary Vandyke or Reynolds : a more verbose, in-
definite, unwieldy affair, without a happy expression, never issued
from the pen of a fagged subordinate of the daily press. 1
With regard to myself, what I am suffering from is not gout,
but incipient affection in my throat, tho' I doubt not real gout is
at the bottom of it all. I have more confidence in Leggatt than
the other gentlemen you mention. L. says I ought to go to Bux-
ton, or at least to the sea, and so on, and not live, as I am doing,
among decomposing woods. That is very true, and I have gen-
erally managed to avoid the fall of the leaf. But the total absence
of all comfort or comforts, that one encounters at an hotel,
countervails the happier atmosphere. One must be at home; and
I am going to town, where I am not surrounded by mighty beeches
brown with impending fate, and limes of amber light, and chest-
nuts of green and gold and every now and then an awful sou'-
wester that brings, in whirling myriads, their beauties to the
ground.
In the meantime, I am like Crusoe on his isle, taking infinite
delight in many silent companions. My mittens are a ceaseless
charm. I fear they will wear out sooner than you expected, for
they are never off my hands. They keep the hand warm and yet
free. My aneroid is at my side at this moment ; not on my dress-
ing-table, as originally projected, but my writing-table. I man-
age it now with the same facility, as Herschel or Ld. Rosse did
their colossal telescopes. If, in my loneliness, one is tempted
sometimes to feel or fancy that some characters and things we
remember are merely a dream, my pencil case in my waistcoat
pocket proves their reality, and if I still doubted, something is
singing, all day long, which is called ' Selina.' 2
1 Greville's character of Peel appears in Part II., Vol. III., ch. 31,
of the Memoirs: Disraeli's character of Peel appears in Lord Oeorge
Bentinck, ch. 17, and is quoted in Vol. II., ch. 11, of this biography.
The loan of part of Greville's MS. to Disraeli is mentioned in Memoirs,
Part II., Vol. III., ch. 32.
2 The mittens, aneroid, pencil case, and singing bird were, of course,
all presents from Lady Bradford.
350 POLITICAL SUCCESS [CHAP, ix
Disraeli's verdict on the Greville Memoirs was endorsed
with great vigour from Balmoral. It is not surprising that
the Queen should have been horrified at the relentless ex-
posure of the vices and foibles of her royal uncles contained
in the first part, which was all that was published in 1874.
But Reeve, the editor, was quite impenitent under royal and
Ministerial displeasure. Sir Arthur Helps, Disraeli told
Lady Bradford, read to Reeve some passages of a letter
from the Queen. ' The Queen said, " the book degraded
royalty." " Not at all," rejoined Reeve, " it elevates it,
by the contrast it offers between the present and the defunct
state of affairs," and so on, fighting every point with smiling
impudence ! '
From Queen Victoria.
BALMORAL, Nov. 12, 1 '74. The Queen thanks Mr. Disraeli for
his letters received to-day. She hopes that he is quite well and
f taking care of himself. But she would strongly advise him not
to accustom himself to very hot rooms, for nothing gives people
I more cold than sitting over a large fire and then going out.
The Queen omitted in her last letter saying how horrified and
indignant she is at this dreadful and really scandalous book of
Mr. C. Greville's, who seems to have put down all the gossip which
>he collected and which, as we well know from the experience of
the present day, is totally unreliable. His indiscretion, indeli-
cacy, ingratitude towards friends, betrayal of confidence and
shameful disloyalty towards his Sovereign make it very important
that the book should be severely censured and discredited. The
tone in which he speaks of royalty, is unlike anything which one
sees in history even, of people hundreds of years ago, and is
most reprehensible.
Mr. Keeve however is almost as much to blame considering that
he is a servant of the Crown and ought never to have consented
to publish such an abominable book.
To Queen Victoria.
WHITEHALL GARDENS, Nov. 10, 1 1874. Mr. Disraeli with his
humble duty to your Majesty :
He thinks your Majesty's critique on the Greville publication,
ought to be printed. It condenses the whole case no, not the
i There must be some mistake in the dates of these letters. The
second is clearly the answer to the first.
1874] THE CONSERVATIVE WORKING MAN 351
whole ' indiscretion, indelicacy, ingratitude.' The book is a
social outrage, but what is most flagrant is, that it should be
prepared, and published, by two servants of the Crown!
Mr. Disraeli has been revolving in his mind, how some public
reprobation of such conduct could be manifested. For this pur-
pose he has wanted to confer with various people and, un-
happily, he has never been able to leave his house since he arrived
in town, so he has not been able to go to clubs, or talk with men,
who, as Dr. Johnson used to describe them, are ' clubable.' . . .
Mr. Disraeli humbly thanks your Majesty for your Majesty's
ever gracious interest in his health.
He assures your Majesty he endeavors to obey all your Ma-
jesty's commands in this respect. He never sits over a fire, and
he has a thermometer in every room, with instructions never to
exceed 63. He fears he is suffering from a gouty habit, wjiich
has broken out late in life, but which, now understood, may be
conquered with care and diet.
What details for a servant of the Crown to place before a
too gracious mistress! His cheek burns with shame. It seems
almost to amount to petty treason.
Disraeli had a further attack of gout in Whitehall Gar-
dens in the early part of November, and it was with con-
siderable difficulty that he managed to appear at the Guild-
hall banquet and to hold the autumn Cabinets. At Guild-
hall he vindicated, against Gladstone's scepticism, the exist-
ence and indeed inevitability of the Conservative working
man.
I have been alarmed recently by learning, from what I suppose
is the highest Liberal authority, that a Conservative Government
cannot endure, because it has been returned by Conservative work-
ing men, and a Conservative working man is an anomaly. We
have been told that a working man cannot be Conservative, be-
cause he has nothing to conserve he has neither land nor capi-
tal ; as if there were not other things in the world as precious as
land and capital ! . . . There are things in my opinion even more
precious than land and capital, and without which land and cap-
ital themselves would be of little worth. What, for instance is
land without liberty? And what is capital without justice?
The working classes of this country have inherited personal rights
which the nobility of other nations do not yet possess. Their
persons and their homes are sacred. They have no fear of arbi-
352 POLITICAL SUCCESS [CHAP, ix
trary arrests or domiciliary visits. 1 They know that the ad-
ministration of law in this country is pure, and that it is no
respecter of individuals or classes. They know very well that
their industry is unfettered, and that by the law of this country
they may combine to protect the interests of labour ; and they
know that though it is open to all of them to serve their Sovereign
by land or sea, no one can be dragged from his craft or his
hearth to enter a military service which is repugnant to him.
Surely these are privileges worthy of being preserved ! Can we
therefore be surprised that a nation which possesses such rights
should wish to preserve them? And if that be the case, is it
wonderful that working classes are Conservative?
The exertion of holding the Cabinets was too much for
Disraeli, and in the end of November he had another attack,
almost as severe as that which had prostrated him at Bretby.
To Lady Bradford.
2, WHITEHALL GARDENS, Nov. 23. . . . I called in Jenner on
Saturday, suffering much in my chest, I believe from the fogs,
wh. have been very bad here. He insisted on Bournemouth, but
I had intended first to pay a little visit to you all, wh. wd. have
been a consolation in my loneliness; but last night attacked by
gout in my right foot, and cannot move.
If you write to me sometimes, when you have time or inclina-
tion, I shall be grateful : but I do not press it or expect it
hardly think it reasonable to wish it. I can make no return.
Long suffering for this has gone on more or less for many
months and exhaustion, and some chagrin of the heart, have
done their work on me. Our correspondence has always been
so essentially spontaneous, that I do not wish it to degenerate
into forced sentences or the bulletins of an invalid, which, I
know, you do not like, and there we resemble each other. I can-
not write; all my spring is gone. . . .
(In pencil.) Dec. 1. Amid my daily reveries and nightly
dreams, it seemed to me I had only one purpose to write to
you, and try to convey to you some conclusions, at wh. I had
i It was suggested that Disraeli was indirectly reflecting upon Bis-
marck, who was employing methods of this kind in his quarrel with
Count Arnim, German Ambassador in Paris. Disraeli thought it
worth while to disclaim this interpretation by a communiqu6 in The
Times : whereupon he was absurdly accused by the Liberals of subservi-
ency to Bismarck. ' No man in his senses,' wrote Delane to Corry,
' will blame the Premier for removing a cause for irritation he had not
intended to excite.'
1874-1875] CONVALESCENCE AT BOURNEMOUTH 353
arrived, as to this strange illness, wh. has harassed me, more or
less, for nine months, and now has reached its climax. But when
I take up my pencil (your pencil), my mind deserts me, and I
am utterly incapable of expressing thought or feeling when, only
a moment before, the thoughts seemed so deep, and the feelings
so just and vivid.
But I can be silent no more, if I write only to thank you for
your letters. They have always had for me an ineffable charm;
being both gay and affectionate, like yr. own happy disposition.
Mine have been different: unreasonable, morose, exacting, dis-
contented. I feel all this now. I will not defend them. I wd.
rather leave their vindication to your seraphic idiosyncrasy.
What is exactly to become of me, I don't know. Whether I
can rally must be doubtful. To get out of this repaire is a ne-
cessity, but how I can bear travelling for hours when writing
this makes me fall back exhausted on my pillows, I cannot com-
prehend.
After this last attack Disraeli went, on the recommenda-
tion of the Queen as well as of his physicians, to try what
Her Majesty called ' the very salubrious air of Bourne-
mouth ' for the midwinter weeks. The physicians declared
that the sea-air would gradually ' burn the gout poison '
out of his blood. Unfortunately, it was a particularly bit-
ter season. ' How damnable/ wrote Corry on December
19, ' that we should be having the most inclement winter of
the decade ! ' ' The cold is intense here,' Disraeli replied :
t deep snow, and I can't get my rooms up to 60.' Never-
theless the change was successful. He was decidedly better
when he left Bournemouth early in January for Crichel;
and he was able to tell Rose on January 15 : 'I am pretty
well; not quite; but much better than I was any day last
year.'
To Queen Victoria.
B-MOUTH, Dec. 10, 1874. Mr. Disraeli with his humble duty to
your Majesty:
He cannot refrain from thanking your Majesty for your gra-
cious inquiries as to his health.
It is difficult to decide on atmospherical influences under a
week, but he thinks he can venture to say, that the visit to this
place, which your Majesty yourself deigned to recommend, will
turn out a great success.
354 POLITICAL SUCCESS [CHAP. K
The weather has been too variable; one day it was like the
Corniche, so soft and sunny, the Isle of Wight looming, and yet
not distant, and the waters glittering in the bay-like coast. But
storm has prevailed, and nothing but the bending pines could
have withstood its violence. Mr. Disraeli is on the cliff, which
is a great advantage to him.
He has received the Prince's Life, 1 which he is reading with
much interest, particularly as it reaches a period, when he him-
self began to take some part in public affairs. Much of the
earlier part he was familiar with from General Grey's volume.
This, however, will be all fresh to the public, and Mr. Disraeli
has no doubt the work will produce a deep, a pleasing, and an
enduring impression. . . .
Dec. IS, 1874. . . . He began the Life towards the end, being
interested in the new matter; then he turned to other parts to
compare the different treatment in the present, and in the volume
compiled by General Grey. Then he got so interested in the
treatment of the subject, that he began the work regularly from
the beginning, and he can truly say, that it is a most able book,
and one that will endure. There is in the general treatment of
the theme an amenity worthy of the subject. Your Majesty most
truly and justly observes, that the contrast between Mr. Martin's
volume and a too notorious publication is striking; but it is
also beneficial. This book will rally the public tone. After the
turbulent and callous malignity of the Greville Memoirs, one
feels as if an angel had passed through the chamber. He may be
invisible, but one feels, as it were, the rustling of his wings.
To Lady Bradford.
2, WHITEHALL GARDENS, Jan. 30, 1875. . . . I am going to
Hughenden to-day with Monty; and on Tuesday I am going
to Osborne, and to stay there till the Council is held on the 4th.
The Alberta is to be placed at my disposal, wh. can go alongside
the pier, so I am not to get into an open boat, and there is a
cabin closed in on deck, where I am to sit during the pas-
sage.
Mr. Corry is to accompany me, and I am forbidden to make
any change in my usual evening costume, as it might give me
cold.
Everything is to be made comfortable for me, and it is hoped
I may stay for two days, in order that I may rest, and, having
the Alberta, I may choose my own time.
What do you think of this? And when will you be so kind
1 Sir Theodore Martin's Life of the Prince Consort.
355
to me? Fancy Monty a recognised courtier! The first private
secretary whose existence has been acknowledged by royal lips. . . .
It was while he was at Bournemouth that Disraeli com-
pleted the arrangement for one of the most picturesque
features of his first year of office the offer to Thomas
Carlyle of the G.C.B. and a pension. He had been cor-
responding with Derby in the autumn as to what could be
done to honour men of science. ' I wish/ he wrote on
October 9, * we had some comprehensive order like the
Legion of Honor. I am sorry that society perists in cheap-
ening a simple knighthood. It satisfied Sir Isaac Newton
and Sir Walter Raleigh. Would it satisfy Stokes ? ' x The
Government gratified the scientific world by promoting the
Arctic Expedition under Sir George Nares. ' Can we do
anything for Literature?' wrote Derby on November 28.
He suggested that Tennyson and Carlyle were the only
conspicuous names; and in pressing Carlyle's claims men-
tioned that he was, ' for whatever reason, most vehement
against Gladstone. . . . Anything that could be done for
him would be a really good political investment. What it
should be you know best.' Disraeli caught at the idea ; he
realised the splendour of Carlyle's genius and the reproach
of its total neglect by the State; and his imagination sup-
plied the unique distinction 2 which might not unfitly be
offered to the doyen of English letters.
To Queen Victoria.
B-MOUTH, Dec. 12, 1874. Mr. Disraeli with his humble duty
to your Majesty :
As your Majesty was graciously pleased to say, that your
Majesty would sometimes aid him with your advice, he pre-
sumes to lay before your Majesty a subject on which he should
much like to be favored with your Majesty's judgment.
Your Majesty's Government is now in favor with the scientific
world. The Arctic Expedition, and some small grants which may
1 Professor George Gabriel Stokes, the mathematician and physicist,
1819-1903. He was created a baronet in 1889.
2 The Order of Merit was not founded until the Coronation of King
Edward VII.
356 POLITICAL SUCCESS [CHAP, re
be made to their favorite institutions, will secure their sympathy,
which is not to be despised.
Can nothing be done for Literature?
Eminent literary men are so few, that there would be no
trouble as to choice, if any compliment in the way of honor was
contemplate. Mr. Disraeli knows only two authors, who are es-
pecially conspicuous at this moment : Tennyson, and Carlyle. He
has no personal knowledge of either, and their political views are,
he apprehends, opposed to those of your Majesty's Government,
but that is not to be considered for a moment.
He has an impression, that Mr. Tennyson could sustain a
baronetcy, and would like it. Sir Robert Peel offered that dis-
tinction to Southey.
Mr. Carlyle is old, and childless, and poor ; but he is very popu-
lar and respected by the nation. There is no K.C.E. vacant.
Would a G.C.B. be too much? It might be combined with a
pension, perhaps, not less than your Majesty's royal grandfather
conferred on Dr. Johnson, and which that great man cheerfully
accepted, and much enjoyed.
These thoughts are humbly submitted to the consideration of
your Majesty, with, Mr. Disraeli hopes, not too much freedom.
The Queen, in Disraeli's words, ' entered into the spirit
of the affair ' ; and lie conveyed the offer to Carlyle in a let-
ter conceived in the grand manner, to the composition of
which, it is evident from the interlined draft found among
his papers, he had devoted considerable labour. As a prof-
fer of State recognition by a literary man in power to a
literary man in (so to speak) permanent opposition, it
would be difficult to excel it either in delicacy or in dignity.
Fully to appreciate its magnanimity, it must be remembered
that Carlyle had always treated Disraeli as a ( conscious
juggler,' ' a superlative Hebrew conjurer.' ( He is the only
man,' Carlyle wrote to John Carlyle, ' I almost never spoke
of except with contempt; and if there is anything of scur-
rility anywhere chargeable against me, he is the subject
of it ; and yet see, here he comes with a pan of hot coals for
my guilty head.'
To Thomas Carlyle.
Confidential. BOURNEMOUTH, Dec. 27, 1874. A Government
should recognise intellect. It elevates and sustains the tone of a
1874] OFFER TO CABLYLE 357
nation. But it is an office which, adequately to fulfil, requires
both courage and discrimination, as there is a chance of falling
into favoritism and patronising mediocrity, which, instead of
elevating the national feeling, would eventually degrade and de-
base it.
In recommending Her Majesty to fit out an Arctic expedition,
and in suggesting other measures of that class, her Government
have shown their sympathy with science. I wish that the po-
sition of high letters should be equally acknowledged; but this
is not so easy, because it is in the necessity of things that the
test of merit cannot be so precise in literature as in science.
When I consider the literary world, I see only two living names
which, I would fain believe, will be remembered; and they stand
out in uncontested superiority. One is that of a poet; if not a
great poet, a real one ; and the other is your own.
I have advised the Queen to offer to confer a baronetcy on
Mr. Tennyson, and the same distinction should be at your com-
mand, if you liked it. But I have remembered that, like myself,
you are childless, and may not care for hereditary honours. I
have therefore made up my mind, if agreeable to yourself, to rec-
ommend Her Majesty to confer on you the highest distinction for
merit at her command, and which, I believe, has never yet been
conferred by her except for direct services to the State. And
that is the Grand Cross of the Bath.
I will speak with frankness on another point. It is not well
that, in the sunset of life, you should be disturbed by common
cares. I see no reason why a great author should not receive
from the nation a pension as well as a lawyer and a statesman.
Unfortunately the personal power of Her Majesty in this respect
is limited; but still it is in the Queen's capacity to settle on an
individual an amount equal to a good fellowship, and which was
cheerfully accepted and enjoyed by the great spirit of Johnson,
and the pure integrity of Southey.
Have the goodness to let me know your feelings on these
subjects.
The letter to Tennyson reproduced the phraseology of
the early portion of that to Carlyle, though it naturally
did not draw a distinction between a ' real ' poet and a
* great ' one. Both authors refused. Tennyson had had
a similar offer from Gladstone nearly a year before, and
explained to both Prime Ministers in succession that he
could not accept a baronetcy for himself, but would be grate-
358 POLITICAL SUCCESS [CHAP, ix
fill if such an honour could be secured for his son. Nine
years later the poet was raised to the peerage on Gladstone's
recommendation. Carlyle's answer was reported to Derby
by Disraeli.
To Lord Derby.
B-MOUTH, Jan. 1, '75. . . . Alas! the Philosopher of Chelsea,
tho' evidently delighted with the proposal, and grateful in won-
drous sentences, will accept of nothing ' Titles of honor, of all
degrees, are out of keeping with the tenor of my poor life,' and
as for money ' after years of rigorous and frugal, but, thank
God, never degrading poverty,' it has become ' amply abundant,
even super-abundant in this later time.'
Nevertheless the proposal is ' magnanimous and noble, with-
out example in the history of governing persons with men of
letters ' and a great deal more in the same highly-sublimated
Teutonic vein.
I have not received any reply from Tennyson, but this is a
secondary affair.
I think of getting away from this on the 4th and shall stay a
week at Crichel and then to Westminster. Northcote is with
me for a day or two, preparing for the Cabinets; and the Ld.
Chan [cello] r is a great assistance to me. . . .
For the moment Carlyle recognised that he had misjudged
Disraeli. Lady Derby, whom Carlyle credited, perhaps
rightly, with the origination of the idea, wrote to Disraeli
on January 15 : 'I saw old Mr. Carlyle to-day, and he
scarcely knew how to be grateful enough for the mark of
attention you had paid him. I assure you it was quite
touching to see and hear his high appreciation of the offer.'
But, save that he continued to prefer Disraeli to Gladstone,
the feeling was transient; and when, a few years later, he
dissented from Ministerial policy in the East, he reverted
once again to his earlier language, and was not ashamed to
talk of the Prime Minister as ' a cursed old Jew, not worth
his weight in cold bacon,' l ' an accursed being, the worst
man who ever lived.' 2
1 Life of James Macdonell, p. 379.
2 Some Hawarden Letters, p. 15.
CHAPTER X
SOCIAL REFORM
1874-1875
The main Government programme of Social Reform was
definitely entered upon in the second session of the Par-
liament. l In legislation/ wrote Disraeli to Hicks Beach
in December, 1874, l it is not merely reason and propriety
which are to be considered, but the temper of the time.'
The time was propitious. Though there were disquieting
symptoms underlying the situation abroad, the surface was
undisturbed, and there was no immediate reason to antici-
pate any foreign complication ; while at home the defeated
Opposition showed as yet no sign of cohesion or recovery.
Social improvement and not revolutionary change was what
people demanded ; and, to give effect to this desire, Labour
members, Alexander Macdonald and Thomas Burt, the fore-
runners of a mighty political force, had been returned for
the first time to Parliament. The general tendency of the
projected legislation was settled, on Disraeli's initiative,
early in the history of the Government ; and as the autumn
Cabinets of 1874 approached, the Prime Minister asked his
principal colleagues for further suggestions. The letter
which he wrote to Salisbury is typical.
To Lord Salisbury.
HUGHENDEN MANOR, Oct. 12, 1874. I hardly know, whether
you have left your chateau sur la Manege 1 but doubt not this
will reach you, somehow or other.
In about a month we ought to commence our November
Cabinets. It would be of great service to me, and very agree-
able also, if you would favor me, some time previously, and con-
1 Salisbury had a villa at Dieppe, where he spent the autumn.
359
360 SOCIAL REFOKM [CHAP, x
fidentially, with your general views as to our situation, and any
suggestion you can make as to our future course.
I saw the French Ambassador, 1 as I passed thro' town an
intimate acquaintance, and more, of forty years. He is, as you
know, experienced in English politics. He said, ' In your in-
ternal situation, I do not see a single difficulty.' I trust he is
correct.
The position of affairs in Ireland must, however, demand our
attention. The group of laws, called the Coercion Acts, are on
the eve of expiring but we could scarcely arrive at a definite
resolution on the subject until the meeting of Parliament.
Is there any question connected with home affairs that occurs
to you, wh. has not been touched on in our councils? I believe,
that Mr. Secy. X 2 is working at a Dwellings Bill. . . .
The Cabinets were very harmonious, the only measure,
a remanet from the past session, which might have caused
friction being judiciously shelved in a manner which showed
that Salisbury bore no lasting grudge against either chief
or colleagues.
To Queen Victoria.
2, WHITEHALL GARDENS, Nov. 12, 1874. Mr. Disraeli with his
humble duty to your Majesty:
The Cabinet met to-day, and sate two hours, and did a great
deal of work, and all satisfactory.
In the first place, not in order, but in importance, the question
of the endowed schools was brought forward, so that there might
be no future misconception on the subject.
Lord Salisbury spoke with much moderation and said, that
he would be satisfied with a compromise, which Mr. Hardy had
suggested in the Cabinet at the end of the session. This was
conciliatory, but not satisfactory to those, who deprecated any
further legislation at all.
To our great surprise and relief, Mr. Hardy said that he
thought it, on the whole, best, not to take any further action in
the matter, particularly as there was a new Commission, whose
views we ought to become acquainted with.
The Lord Chancellor strongly supported Mr. Hardy, and, no
one then speaking, Lord Salisbury said, that neither in this, nor
any subject, did he wish to urge his views against a majority of
i The Comte de Jarnac. See Vol. III., p. 172.
2 R. A. Cross, the Home Secretary.
ROBERT, THIRD MARQUIS OF SALISBURY.
From a portrait at Hv.';hr>ulrn.
1874-1875] HARTINGTON AS LIBERAL LEADER SGI
the Cabinet, and one apparently unanimous. He was prepared,
therefore, to do nothing.
Upon which Lord Derby exclaimed ' Thank God, we have got
rid of the only rock a-head ! ' . . .
Nov. 15. . . . The Cabinet was engaged yesterday in con-
sidering the measure for the Improvement of the Dwellings of
the People. This is likely to be a very popular and beneficial
measure, but will require great care. Your Majesty's Ministers
must be cautious not to embark in any building speculation :
but nothing of this kind is contemplated. This, and some other
measures completing the code of sanitary legislation, took up the
whole sitting. . . .
These meetings have been eminently satisfactory : unanimous
and friendly, and never the slightest indication of there being
two parties in the Cabinet.
The path of the Government was still further smoothed,
as the session approached, by Gladstone's definite retirement
from the Opposition leadership, and the choice in his place,
as leader of the Liberal party in the House of Commons, of
a politician of weight and judgment rather than of ag-
gressive force Lord Hartington, the heir of the Whig
house of Cavendish. Disraeli told Lady Chesterfield, ' the
new joke about the Whigs. . . . You know Ld. Derby,
pere, said the Whigs were dished; they say now they are
Cavendished/
To Lady Bradford.
2, WHITEHALL GARDENS, Feb. 2. . . . The political world was
never more amusing: I am glad that Harty-Tarty has won the
day. Never was a party in such a position, and, tho' I never would
confess it to anybody but yourself, never was a man in a prouder
position than myself. It never happened before, and is not
likely to happen again. Only those who are acquainted with the
malignity of Glad [stone] to me thro' a rivalry of 5 and 20 years,
can understand this. . . .
To Queen Victoria.
2, WHITEHALL GARDENS, Feb. 5, 1875, Friday night. Mr. Dis-
raeli with his humble duty to your Majesty:
The House of Commons reassembled to-day, in unusual num-
bers, the benches on both sides being thronged.
362 SOCIAL REFORM [CHAP. \
Lord Hartington took his seat at the last moment; ^2 past
four ; and was cheered by both sides. Mr. Forster x and your
Majesty's humble correspondent were also received by their friends
with great cordiality.
The Address was moved by Hon. Edward Stanhope in a speech
of striking ability. Instead of a mechanical comment on each
paragraph of the Royal Speech, Mr. Stanhope generalised on two
great subjects, your Majesty's Colonial Empire, and the Health
of your People. He produced a great effect. He commenced
by an allusion to the illness of H.R.H. Prince Leopold, and to
your Majesty's anxiety, than which few things could be more
graceful and felicitous.
The Member for Glasgow, who seconded the Address, unfor-
tunately spoke in the language of his country, and, so, soon lost
the House; but all his observations were sensible and acute, and
worthy of a descendant of Bailie Nicol Jarvie. The new houses
in Glasgow for the artisans, and the polluted state of the famous
Clyde, gave him a becoming position in the business of the eve-
ning.
Lord Hartington, well-prepared and thoughtful, made a reputa-
ble appearance, and the general impression on both sides was
favorable to the effort.
Mr. Disraeli closed the debate, as no one would rise, though
there had been rumors that Mr. Fitzgerald was about to call the
consideration of the House to the contemplated invasion of
Holland by Prince Bismarck. The House was in good spirits
and good temper, and there seems the prospect of an active, but
serene session.
Writing to Lady Chesterfield, Disraeli described Harting-
ton's debut as leader more familiarly. l Harty-Tarty did
very well ; exactly as I expected he would ; sensible, dullish
and gentlemanlike. Lowe said, " At last I have heard a
proper leader's speech; all good sense, and no earnest non-
sense."
In the favourable atmosphere thus created, the Minis-
terial programme of social legislation was auspiciously
launched. Sanitas sanitatum, omnia sanitas had been Dis-
raeli's watchword. * A policy of sewage,' the Liberals
i W. E. Forster, afterwards Chief Secretary for Ireland, had refused
to let his name be submitted in competition with Hartington's for the
Liberal leadership.
1875] WORKING MEN'S NEEDS 363
had sniffed in reply. Even if limited to sewage, such a
policy was praiseworthy ; but, as Disraeli pointed out at the
close of the session, sanitary reform, ' that phrase so little
understood,' included 'most of the civilising influences of
humanity.' Disraeli had given the artisans the vote in
1867. Gladstone had prevailed on them to use it in ef-
fecting great political changes in the institutions of the
country, and particularly of Ireland. What they really
wanted, in Disraeli's opinion, and what in the General
Election of 1874 they set themselves to obtain, were better,
healthier, more humanising conditions in their own daily
life. They wanted sanitary and commodious homes ; they
wanted regulation of their occupations so as to minimise
risk to life and health and to prevent excessive toil for their
women and children; they wanted freedom of contract and
equality before the law with their employers; they wanted
encouragement and security for their savings ; they wanted
easy access to light and air and all the beneficent influences
of nature. These were their principal wants in the sphere
of material sanitation ; but they had no less need of what
may perhaps be called mental and spiritual sanitation
a sphere which Disraeli was little likely to overlook ; they
wanted the provision of sound education and the enlarge-
ment of religious opportunity.
With one conspicuous exception, these direct and ob-
vious needs of the working population had been neglected
bx_the_Liberals, still dominated as a party by the doctrines
of laisser faire. Elementary education, indeed, they had
taken comprehensively in hand ; but Forster's great Bill
would never have passed into law, in view of the bitter
hostility of Radicals and Dissenters, had it not received the
general support of Disraeli and the Conservatives. The
other working-class problem which Gladstone's Ministry
had touched, that of the relations between employers and
workmen, they had conspicuously failed to solve. In one
single session, 1875, Disraeli and his colleagues vigorously
attacked the ' condition of the people ' question in three
364 SOCIAL REFORM [CHAP, z
main branches, housing, savings, and relations of master
and man, effecting in each case a striking improvement in
the law; and there was none of the working-class needs
enumerated above that was not to a large extent supplied
before the Tory Government were expelled from office.
The Minister chiefly responsible for this social legisla-
tion was the Home Secretary, Richard Cross, the shrewd
Lancashire lawyer and man of business who frequently
figures in Disraeli's correspondence as ' Mr. Secy. X ' ;
and, after him, N"orthcote, the Chancellor of the Exchequer.
The homes of the poor were dealt with first of all ; and an
entirely new departure was made in the Artisans' Dwellings
Bill, which for the first time called in public authorities to
remedy the defects of private dwelling-houses. By its
provisions local authorities in large towns were empowered
to remove existing buildings for sanitary reasons and re-
place them by others, the new buildings to be devoted to
the use of artisans. True to his rigid economic doctrine,
the eminent Radical, Fawcett, scoffed at the proposal ; and
asked why Parliament should facilitate the housing of
working men and not that of dukes? But the artisans
themselves and the public at large welcomed this honest
attempt to deal with the rookeries which disgraced our
urban civilisation, and which made decent life almost im-
possible for those who dwelt in them. When excessive de-
mands for compensation impeded the working of the scheme,
the Government passed in 18Y9 an Amending Bill providing
that, if overcrowding had created a nuisance, compensation
should be fixed on the value of the house after abatement
of the nuisance, so that grasping and callous owners should
not profit by their misdeeds.
Savings were promoted and secured by a Friendly So-
cieties Bill, in Northcote's charge. This struck a mean
between the extremes of too great State interference and of
insufficient protection. It left the Societies a wide measure
of self-management, but insured the adoption of sound
rules, effective audit, and rates of payment sufficient to
1875] LABOUR LEGISLATION 365
maintain solvency. It established the Friendly Societies,
and with them the people's savings, on a satisfactory basis.
But the most important legislation of the session dealt
with the relation of master and man. Hitherto the work-
man had been severely handicapped in his contentions with
his employer about wages and conditions of service by two
rules of law coming down from a state of society ante-
cedent to the industrial epoch. In the first place, breach
of contract by the workman was regarded, and punished,
as a criminal offence, while the employer in a like case was
only liable in the civil courts; and, in the second place,
the doctrine of ' conspiracy ' among workmen was applied
in such a way as to cover the normal actions of trade unions,
and to bring their promoters within reach of the criminal
law. By two Bills which Cross introduced, in pursuance
of the report of the Royal Commission of the previous year,
both these wrongs were righted. The one made employers
and workmen equal before the law as regards labour con-
tracts, constituting breach of contract merely a civil of-
fence on the part of a workman as it had always been on
the part of an employer. The other made ' conspiracy '
as applied to trade disputes no longer a crime, except when
it was for the purpose of committing what would be a
crime if done by one person. These two Acts, said a Trade
Union Manual of Labour Laws of the day, were the charter
of the social and industrial freedom of the working classes ;
and the Labour member, Alexander Macdonald, in the
House, and the Labour Congress formally in the autumn,
thanked the Government warmly for passing them.
The Acts which have been already described were by no
means the whole crop garnered by the Government in this
fertile session of constructive social legislation. The in-
terests of agricultural tenants were not forgotten, but Dis-
raeli himself piloted a Bill through the House of Commons
by which the tenant obtained compensation for unexhausted
improvements, a presumption of law being created in his
favour, while at the same time freedom of contract between
366 SOCIAL REFOKM [CHAP, x
landlord and tenant was preserved. Moreover, the protec-
tion of merchant seamen from the dangers of unseaworthy
ships was undertaken in circumstances to which we shall
recur. Finally, Cross in this same session consolidated
and improved the whole sanitary code in the Public Health
Act the foundation on which all subsequent amendment
in detail has been built.
After 1875 there was never again, during the lifetime of
the -Government, a session untroubled by serious foreign or
imperial complications ; but, though the pace was necessarily
slower, steady progress was made throughout with social
reform. The greatest and most important work of all was
to put the coping-stone on that edifice of factory legislation
which Shaftesbury had gradually reared, with the steady
support of Disraeli and of l Young England,' in the teeth
of the bitter opposition of Bright and the Manchester
school. In their very first session, 1874, the Government
had remedied the wrong done in 1850, when the ten hours'
day which Parliament had decreed in 1847 for women
and children was for administrative reasons enlarged, in
face of strong opposition by Disraeli and John Manners,
to a ten-and-a-half hours' day. 1 Fifty-six hours a week, i/
or ten hours on five week-days and six on Saturday, was
the total allowed by the Act of 1874; and even this modi-
fication was opposed by the individualist Fawcett, and, in
the division lobby, by 79 Liberals. Then in 1878 the whole
intricate series of factory laws were brought under review,
improved, and codified by a Consolidation Act, of which
Shaftesbury spoke in the Lords with unbounded satisfaction.
He said that he was lost in wonder at the amount of toil,
of close investigation, and of perseverance involved in its
preparation; two millions of people in this country would
bless the day when Cross was appointed Home Secretary,
were the Factory Acts the only measures passed by
this Government ameliorating the circumstances of labour.
Hosiery manufacture was brought under the Truck Acts
i See Vol. III., p. 254.
1875] THE PEOPLE AND NATURE'S BOUNTY 367
' in 1874; provision for inspecting and regulating canal
J boats was made in 1877; and in 1876 permanent and hu-
>N/ mane conditions were laid down for merchant shipping.
In these ways the Government effected a notable improve-
ment in the conditions of labour; but it was on the old
lines of Shaftesbury's movement. In another field they
broke new ground. They reversed the old policy of the
Enclosure Acts, which encouraged the conversion of com-
mon land into private and therefore presumably productive
occupation ; and, in view of the rapid development of the
urban population and the necessity of securing for it the en-
joyment of grass and light and air, prevented by an Act of
1876 any further enclosure save where it would be a public
as well as a private benefit, and promoted free access to
commons and their use as public playgrounds. In a similar
spirit, in 1878, Ministers secured, by the Epping Forest
Act, the unenclosed portion of that wild tract on the verge
of East London to the use of the public for ever. In these
acts they were putting into effect a policy in which Mr. Shaw
Lefevre, who (as Lord Eversley) is still with us, and
Henry Fawcett, so often a foe to Disraeli's legislation, were
pioneers; but both these reformers opposed the Enclosure
Bill, because it was not, in their opinion, sufficiently dras-
tic. With the like object of preserving the bounty of Na-
ture free and uncontaminated for the people's enjoyment
Ministers passed in 1876 the Rivers Pollution Act, abso-
lutely prohibiting the introduction of solid matter into
rivers securing them from further pollution by sewage,
and imposing upon manufacturers the liability to render
harmless the liquid flowing from their works. Here, as so
often in their sanitary legislation, the strongest opposition
with which Ministers met was from an eminent Radical
in this instance Dilke.
While passing these measures of material sanitation,
the Government in no way neglected the mental and spiritual
health of the people. Indeed, their record in the promo-
tion of education was a substantial one. In 1876 they
S68 SOCIAL ftEFOHM [CHAP, x
widely extended the benefit of elementary education by a
Bill amending Forster's Act of 1870; in 1877 they re-
formed by the agency of statutory commission the Uni-
versities of Oxford and Cambridge, making the revenues
of the Colleges more available for educational purposes:
while in 1878 and 1879 they materially improved Irish
education university, secondary, and elementary first,
by establishing an examining and degree-giving Royal
University to meet in some degree the claims of the Roman
Catholics ; next, by taking a million from the Irish Church
fund to encourage secondary education by means of exhibi-
tions to successful students and of grants to managers of
efficient schools ; and finally by establishing out of the same
fund a proper system of pensions for national school teach-
ers. In the sphere of spiritual sanitation, besides the re-
spect for the religious needs of the people which a critical
body of Dissenters and secularists in Parliament found only
too clearly expressed in the terms of the English educational
Bills, the Government encouraged the Church of England
to extend her usefulness by extending her episcopate as ad-
vocated by Disraeli himself in 1864; passing Bills for the
creation of new dioceses of St. Albans and Truro in 1875
and 1876, and a more general Bill in 1878, under which no
fewer than four additional sees, Liverpool, Newcastle, W,ake-
field and Southwell, were authorised. It was the greatest
ecclesiastical reform since the Reformation, said Tait, the
Archbishop of Canterbury, in the House of Lords.
Such in general scope was the code of social and sanitary
legislation which Disraeli's great Ministry established for
the people of this country. It took the practical pressing
needs of the working population one by one, and found a
remedy for them, without inflicting hardship on any other
class, or affecting our historical institutions in any way,
save to strengthen their hold on popular affections. ' The
palace is not safe, when the cottage is not happy,' Disraeli
had said at a Wynyard Horticultural Show in 1848 ; and
he did his best in the 1874-1880 Ministry to make the one
1875] TORY DEMOCRACY IN ACTION 369
safe by making the other happy. Well might Alexander
Macdonald tell his constituents in 1879, ' The Conserva-
tive party have done more for the working classes in five
years than the Liberals have in fifty.' The work then done
has had of course to be extended and supplemented in
many respects, but in its main outlines it has stood the
test of time. The aspirations of Sybil and ' Young Eng-
land,' the doctrines in which Disraeli had ' educated ' his
party for thirty years, the principles laid down in the
great speeches of 1872, were translated into legislative form;
it was Tory democracy in action. Gorst, who, owing to his
position as party organiser, was in close touch with Dis-
raeli during these years, has expounded in an impressive
passage * what he understood the domestic policy of his
' ancient master ' to be.
The* principle of Tory democracy is that all government exists
solely for the good of the governed; that Church and King,
Lords and Commons, and all other public institutions are to be
maintained so far, and so far only, as they promote the happiness
and welfare of the common people; that all who are entrusted
with any public function are trustees, not for their own class,
but for the nation at large; and that the mass of the people may
be trusted so to use electoral power, which should be freely con-
ceded to them, as to support those who are promoting their in-
terests. It is democratic because the welfare of the people is its
supreme end; it is Tory because the institutions of the country
are the means by which the end is to be attained.
It is a proof of Disraeli's greatness, and of the sound-
ness of his conception, that the stamp printed by him on
Tory policy has persisted, though it has sometimes been
obscured by accretions of class and party interest. Gorst,
indeed, whose relations with his party became increasingly
uncomfortable until he finally quitted it, held that only Ran-
dolph Churchill and his immediate comrades carried on the
Tory democratic tradition. This tradition was perhaps not
the aspect of Disraeli's work that specially appealed to his
i In a letter in l%e Times of Feb. 6, 1907.
370 SOCIAL KEFOEM [CHAP, x
successor, Salisbury. But circumstances drove Salisbury
into a close alliance with Chamberlain and Chamberlain's
school of social reformers, and thus powerfully reinforced
all the progressive elements of the Tory party. The result
has been, to take only four conspicuous instances, that it is
to that party that the people of this country owe
the popular reconstitution of county government and of Lon-
don government, the freeing of elementary education, the
final consolidation of the Factory Acts in 1901, and the
enormous educational advance of Mr. Balfour's Act of 1902.
It may be added that the intimate association of Tory
leaders with Labour representatives in Mr. Lloyd George's
Ministry is an arrangement which largely carries into effect
the ideals of Sybil.
It has sometimes been suggested that because Disraeli
left the conduct of the Ministerial measures of social reform
mainly in the very competent hands of Cross and North-
cote, therefore his own share in this beneficent legislation
was little or none, and all the credit should be given to his
lieutenants. In view of the facts, this is an untenable
theory. Disraeli was no roi faineant in his Cabinet; on
the contrary, by the testimony both of colleagues and of
opponents, he was, in matters which interested him, himself
the Government, to a greater degree even than Gladstone
had been from 1868 to 1874. But from his first experience
of Ministerial leadership in 1852 he had adopted the prac-
tice of leaving his colleagues to manage by themselves the
conduct of Bills affecting their own departments, and of not
intervening himself save at critical moments. A system
of Ministerial devolution, deliberately adopted when he
was in the prime of manhood, would be all the more strictly
followed at a time when approaching old age and recurrent
gout made it imperative for him to husband his physical
resources. His correspondence with the Queen and with
his friends confirms in detail what was already sufficiently
apparent from his public speeches, especially those at the
close of the 1875 session : that the carrying into effect of the
1875] DISRAELI'S PERSONAL INTEREST 371
programme of social policy outlined in 1872 was not less
his work than the programme itself.
We have seen how he wrote of the Artisans' Dwellings Bill
to the Queen; to Lady Bradford he boasted of his social
reforms as ' a policy round which the country can rally.'
He showed his personal interest in housing problems by at-
tending, as Prime Minister, in June, 1874, the opening by
Shaftesbury of a ' workmen's city,' at Lavender Hill, built
by a limited company having shareholders of all ranks from
dukes to bricklayers ; and then he had said that the best
security for civilisation was the dwelling. * It is the real
nursery of all domestic virtues, and without a becoming
home the exercise of those virtues is impossible.' He had
added that the experience gained at Lavender Hill might
' guide the councils of the nation in that enterprise which
I believe is impending in this country on a great scale, of
attempting to improve the dwellings of the great body of
the people.' With the labour legislation of the 1875 session
his personal connection was especially close. He had been
studying the labour laws at Hughenden in the autumn of
1873, and had asked Hardy at that time for a memorandum
on the law of conspiracy as being a subject that ' will press
us.' We have his own definite statement that on this sub-
ject he converted to his policy a hesitating Cabinet.
To Lady Bradford.
2, WHITEHALL GARDENS, June 29. . . . I cannot express to you
the importance of last night. It is one of those measures, that
root and consolidate a party. We have settled the long and
vexatious contest bet [wee] n capital and labor. It will have the
same effect on the great industrial population 'on the other side
Trent' wh. the Short Time Bill had in the West Riding and
Lancashire.
I must tell you what I will tell to no other being, not even the
Faery, to whom I am now going to write a report of the memora-
ble night, that when Secy. X explained his plan to the Cabinet,
many were agst. it, and none for it but myself; and it was only
in deference to the P. Min[iste]r that a decision was postponed
to another day. In the interval the thing was better understood
and managed.
372 SOCIAL REFOKM [CHAP, x
To Queen Victoria,.
2, WHITEHALL GARDENS, June 29, 1875. Mr. Disraeli with his
humble duty to your Majesty:
The proceedings in the House of Commons were so important
last night, that he feels it his duty to furnish your Majesty with
a memorandum of them.
The ' Labor Laws ' of the Government, contained in two bills,
were read a second time with not only approbation, but with
general enthusiasm. The representative working men, like Mac-
donald, and the great employers of labor, represented by Mr.
Tennant, the member for Leeds, and others, equally hailed these
measures as a complete and satisfactory solution of the greatest
question of the day; the relations between Capital and Labor.
Mr. Lowe and Mr. Forster spoke in the warmest terms of the
measures, and the latter said that, after passing such Bills, Her
Majesty's Government need have no apprehension of their re-
ception during the recess, and that all their opponents must join
in the general commendation of the country.
Mr. Disraeli believes, that this measure, settling all the long
and long-envenomed disputes between ' master and servant,' is
the most important of the class, that has been carried in your
Majesty's long and eventful reign: more important, he thinks,
because of more extensive and general application, than even the
Short Time Acts, which have had so beneficial an effect in
softening the feelings of the working multitude.
He is glad, too, that this measure was virtually passed on your
Majesty's Coronation Day. . . .
As the Prime Minister took little or no personal part in
recommending to the House of Commons the social legisla-
tion which owed so much to his initiative, the dramatic
scenes of the session were few, and were mostly concerned
with issues of very secondary importance. Questions of
privilege, in lieu of more vital matters, loomed large, and
the Opposition coquetted with the discontented Irish in
raising difficulties where Disraeli's strong sense of the dig-
nity of the House of Commons led him to hold a straight
course. The House supported him in refusing to allow
John Mitchel, an unpurged felon, elected for an Irish con-
stituency, to take his seat ; in allowing Kenealy, the counsel
whose outrageous methods in conducting the defence of the
1875] PRIVILEGE AND PREROGATIVE 373
Tichborne claimant had caused his profession to cast him
out, to advance, as a duly elected and unconvicted member,
to the table of the House and take the oath in spite of
his inability to get any fellow member to introduce him ; in
condemning Kenealy's unworthy agitation against the
judges who decided against him, and in declining to pay the
smallest attention to his ridiculous contention that a private
jest of Lord Chief Justice Cockburn's at a dinner- table was
evidence of a fixed determination to condemn the plaintiff;
and, further, in refusing to abandon offhand, because of an
indiscreet enforcement of privilege claims, the ancient privi-
lege of Parliament, as against the press. His letters to
the Queen and his friends give some idea of the vicissitudes
of the session.
To Lady Bradford.
2, WHITEHALL GARDENS, Feb. 17, 1875. . . . Yesterday, when
I could well have been spared such trifling trouble, was taken up
with a struggle betn. Parliamentary privilege and semi-royal
prerogative.
I was engaged to dine with the Speaker, whom I threw over,
as the phrase is, for the P. of W., alleging command. The
Speaker wd. not take my excuse, alleging that there was no ' com-
mand ' except from the Sovereign ; that a dinner to the Ministry
without the P.M. was a mockery, and that he must vindicate
the authority of the Chair.
The Prince behaved very well. I was rather afraid, and pre-
pared he wd. be annoyed. Monty, who was pretty well, was of
great use to me. He saw Knollys and explained the painful
situation, and after saw the Prince, who had been hunting.
The Prince said it was a grand party; all the Ambassadors and
the Derbys, etc., and that he wanted the Prime Minister; that
he thought the Speaker always dined on Saturday (in wh. he
was right; this is an innovation) but he felt the importance of
the occasion and so released me. Monty was with him twenty
minutes or so, and he was amiable and agreeable. In the eve-
ning came a large card, and a note from Knollys, saying the
Prince thought I cd. be represented at the dinner by no one bet-
ter than by my faithful Secy.. Monty is quite in his stirrups,
and has no doubt that all the Prince's banditti, at the Marlboro'
Club, will be very jeal[ous]. . . .
374 SOCIAL REFORM [CHAP, x
To Anne Lady Chesterfield.
2, WHITEHALL GARDENS, Feb. 19. . . . I could not write yes-
terday, for it was a day of great trouble and anxiety. The Op-
position chiefs had signified their intention to support my reso-
lution against the rebel, Mitchel; but only just before the meet-
ing of the House I heard that Harcourt and Lowe had got round
Ld. Hartington, and persuaded him to support, as an amend-
ment, a committee to inquire. This, if carried, would have been
a great blow, and it was supposed, that there was a chance, and
not a bad one, of its being carried.
If I had accepted the amendment, in lieu of my own uncom-
promising Resolutions, the humiliation of the Government would
have been very great.
The result showed that I had not miscalculated the spirit of
the Ho. of Commons, and the Opposition chiefs, while taking an
unpatriotic course to please the Irish rebels, sustained an ig-
nominious overthrow. There has seldom been a greater triumph
for a Minister than yesterday. After dividing on the pretence
of adjourning the debate, and getting beaten by a majority of
more than 160, they allowed my Resolutions to pass nemine con-
tradicente. . . .
To Lady Bradford.
WHITEHALL], Feb. 26. . . . We did well in the House last
night, and carried the second reading of our Friendly Societies
Bill. That, with the Artisans' Dwellings Bill, is the second
measure of social improvement that I think we shall now cer-
tainly pass. It is important, because they indicate a policy round
wh. the country can rally.
The question who shall be Serg[ean]t-at-Arms in the House
of Commons, is agitating political society, and is in a strange
quandary. ... In brief, Ld. Hertford nominated his son-in-law
(Erskine 1 I think), and sent in his name to the Queen. The
House of Commons signed a Memorial to Her Majesty, praying
the Queen to bestow the office on Gosset, 2 wh. they intended the
Speaker to present. He disapproved the Memorial, as an in-
terference with the prerogative, but said he wd. represent the
unanimous feeling of the House to the Primo, etc., etc.
So I wrote to the Queen and put the matter before her, never
anticipating what wd. happen. Last night, I received her reply.
She has thrown over Ld. Hertford, and leaves me to communi-
1 Sir H. D. Erskine, Sergeant-at-Arms from 1885 to 1915.
2 Then the Deputy-Sergeant, who was, Disraeli told Lady Chester-
field, ' a great favorite with all parties/ and had served for thirty-five
years.
1875] DISRAELI AND THE LORDS 375
cate her gracious favor to the Commons, the son-in-law of Ld.
Hertford to have the deputy place. I have not told a human
being except you, as I wish, if possible, to spare Ld. H. and give
him a golden occasion to be gracious. . . .
To Queen Victoria.
2, WHITEHALL GARDENS, March 5, 1875. Mr. Disraeli with
his humble duty to your Majesty:
The large majority of your Majesty's Government, on the
Army Exchange Bill, was sustained last night, and it is rumored,
that the future opposition will be slight.
There is a strong party, in both Houses, which desires the
restoration to the House of Lords of their position as Court of
Ultimate Appeal.
An Act to abolish this function, so far as England is con-
cerned, has already passed, but does not come into force until
next November.
The House of Lords is still the Court of Ultimate Appeal for
Ireland and Scotland, and it is not probable that the Bills intro-
duced, to assimilate those countries to England, will pass.
The anomaly, then, will be established of separate Courts of
Final Appeal for different parts of your Majesty's dominions.
To remove this anomaly, it is understood that Mr. Walpole
will bring the matter before the House of Commons, with the
view of practically rescinding the English Act, that comes into
play in November. The circumstances are rather critical.
Mr. Disraeli attended, yesterday, a meeting of the peers, at
the Duke of Richmond's, and succeeded so far as to induce them
to take a prudent and moderate course for the moment, but their
spirit was high and somewhat unmanageable. Peers, who, two
years ago, showed the greatest apathy on the subject, have become
quite headstrong. . . .
March 17. . . . Yesterday was a great day in the House of
Commons. In consequence of the tactics of delay on the part
of the Opposition, Mr. Disraeli was obliged to have recourse to
a morning sitting; unprecedented before Easter so yesterday
the House was sitting all day.
But the greater event was the return from Elba : Mr. Glad-
stone not only appeared, but rushed into the debate. The House,
very full, was breathless. The new members trembled and flut-
tered like small birds when a hawk is in the air. As the attack
was made on Mr. Secretary Hardy and his department, Mr. Dis-
raeli was sorry not to be able to accept the challenge, but he
had nothing to regret. Mr. Hardy, who, suffering under a great
376 SOCIAL REFOKM [CHAP, x
sorrow, 1 has been languid this session, was inspired by the great
occasion, and never spoke with more force and fire. The Bill 2
was carried through Committee by large majorities, and without
alteration. . . .
To Anne Lady Chesterfield.
HUGHENDEN MANOR, 3 March 30. I returned here yesterday
with a cold, notwithstanding all my care: but I had to pace the
corridor at Windsor, wh. I think can't be less than 1,000 feet
long, five times a day (that was exercise) with blasts from every
opening in my progress (that was air).
I did not return smothered with flowers, tho' the Faery was
most gracious, and is going to give me her portrait for Hughen-
den. For a long time I wrote, almost every day, to three ladies :
one of them has given me her portrait; another has promised me
her portrait; the third has not only not given me her portrait,
but has prevented another person from giving it to me. I shd.
[have placed the two sisters in the saloon, each on one side of our
Sovereign. . . .
Confidential. 2, WHITEHALL GARDENS, May 5. Public affairs
are so grave and pressing that I can hardly command my mind
to write a private letter even to you.
I am now going to the Faery, who has much to make her dis-
quieted. Bismarck is playing the game of the old Buonaparte. 4
Then I must go to the Ho. of Commons, and blow into the
air the conspiracy of the Liberals, the Fenians, and The Times
newspaper, their organ, to discredit, and eventually to destroy,
H. M. Government. They will find both results a little more
difficult than they imagine. I have no doubt I shall baffle and
beat them down, but I have got a little gout, wh. is not very
agreeable under such circumstances. . . .
To Lady Bradford.
2, WHITEHALL GARDENS, May 7, 1875. . . . We got on cap-
itally last night in the House of C. after my lecture. The Irish
withdrew all their opposition, and we nearly got thro' Com-
mittee with one of our sanitary Bills, all of wh. I am resolved
to carry.
Gladstone, I am told, is furious, tho' a greater bully than
himself never ruled the Ho. of Comm. The plot was to waste
1 Hardy's eldest daughter died on Jan. 8.
2 Regimental Exchanges Bill.
s Disraeli spent the Easter Recess at Hughenden, with the exception
of a short visit to Windsor.
* See below, ch. 11.
1875] NEW SINKING FUND 377
the sess[ion] and then hold the Government up to scorn, for
their imbecility, during the recess.
Late at night on Tuesday, without anybody being aware of
it, we passed the 3rd reading of the Artisans' Dwellings Bill,
our chief measure, wh. now goes to the Lords. They have got
the Army Exchange Bill already, and before many days they
will have the Irish Bill ; x so we have not done so very badly.
The Agricultural Holdings Bill, which has passed the Lords,
I intend to bring in myself; nor shall they have a moment's
rest. ... '
Northcote's Budget for 1875 raised the reputation of the
Government. He established a new sinking fund, setting
aside for the service of the National Debt a fixed annual
sum, in excess of what was required for payment of interest ;
an admirable plan, under which more than 150 millions of
debt were paid off in the last quarter of the nineteenth cen-
tury. Gladstone once more rushed out of his retirement
into the fray, but, says a Liberal historian, 2 ' did not even
succeed in dispelling the notion that if he had been in office
he would have done much the same thing himself.'
To Lady Bradford.
2, WHITEHALL GARDENS, S.W., May 8, 1875. Last night was
to have witnessed the destruction of the Govt: an attack on
our whole line, led on by Achilles himself. Never were assail-
ants so completely overthrown.
1 Irish Peace Preservation Bill. Disraeli's speech on the second
reading contained a well-known passage : ' There was once a member
of this House, one of its greatest ornaments, who sat opposite this box,
or an identical one, and indeed occupied the place which I unworthily
fill. That was Mr. Canning. In his time, besides the discovery of a
new world, dry champagne was invented. Hearing everybody talking
of dry champagne, Mr. Canning had a great desire to taste it, and
Charles Ellis, afterwards Lord Seaford, got up a little dinner for
him, care of course being taken that there should be some dry cham-
pagne. Mr. Canning took a glass, and after drinking it and thinking
for a moment, exclaimed, " The man who says he likes dry champagne
will say anything." Now I do not want to enter into rude contro-
versy with any of my hon. friends opposite who doubt the existence
of Ribbonism; but this I will say, that the man who maintains that
Ribbonism does not exist is a man who ought to drink dry cham-
pagne.' Ribbonism was the form that Irish conspiracy had assumed
for the time.
2 Mr. Herbert Paul in his History of Modern England.
378 SOCIAL EEFOEM [CHAP, x
There was really a flutter of fear along our benches, which
were crowded, when Gladstone rose. We have many new mem-
bers, and they had heard so much of G. that they trembled.
The great man spoke for two hours, but it was the return
from Elba, The Chancellor of the Exr. our little Northcote,
originally G.'s private secretary, followed him, and I can truly
say annihilated him, in one of the most vigorous speeches that
ever was made by a man master of his subject.
Lowe tried to rally the affair, and I put up Hunt to answer
him. It did not require great gifts to do that, for Lowe made
a stammering affair of it a dead failure.
Then the most curious part of all every finance authority
on the Liberal side spoke for the Government, and by the time
I had intended to rise to sum up the question, the House had
nearly vanished. Enough members however remained to help
us to get thro' a great deal of business; and, whether it be what
I said in the House or not, all I know is that we have done more
business during the last 8 and 40 hours than for the last fort-
night. . . .
HUGHENDEN MANOR, May 19. . . . I have been here nearly
a week, 1 and have not interchanged a syllable with any human
being. My personal attendant (Baum), tho' sedulous, and, some-
times I believe, even honest, is of a sullen and supercilious tem-
perament, and never unnecessarily opens his mouth. This 1
think a recommendation. Work has been brisk, especially for-
eign. . . .
I am very much like Robinson Crusoe on his island, before
he found Friday. Talking of which immortal work reminds me
how I have passed my evenings here: in reading Gil Bias. What
a production! It is human life. I read it when a child, and
was charmed with its unceasing adventure; but could not realise
its real meaning. I read it now with a very large experience of
existence, and I relish every line.
HOUSE OF COMMONS, 6 o'ck. [? May 27, 1875]. Gladstone has
come down like the Dragon of Wantley breathing fire and fury
on some of our financial Bills. . . .
To Queen Victoria.
HOUSE OF COMMONS, May 31, 1875. Mr. Disraeli with his
humble duty to your Majesty:
He has, generally speaking, been a little remiss, this session,
in reporting the operations of the House of Commons to your
i For the Whitsuntide recess.
1875] OPPOSITION ATTACKS 379
Majesty, but there have been more interesting topics to trouble
your Majesty about.
To-night, however, has been one of a signal character.
For nearly a month, the Opposition, by every means the press
could afford, have endeavoured to impress upon the country, that
your Majesty's Government have made a great mistake in their
management of the ' privilege question ' ; that they have lost a
golden opportunity of settling these difficulties; and have given
that opportunity to Lord Hartington to establish himself in the
confidence of the country.
Mr. Disraeli was perfectly aware, that the whole of the repre-
sentation was a delusion, and knew that the advice he had given
to his party, on the subject, was the sound and right one: that
which had been adopted, or followed, on similar occasions, by
all the great leaders and members, who preceded him: Peel,
Lord Russell, Graham, Lords Eversley and Ossington, Sir George
Grey, Bouverie.
To-day and to-night, after many delays, the great occasion
arrived, ' one of the decisive battles ' not of the world, but of the
session.
There was a meeting of the supporters of the Ministry in the
morning in Downing Street, when [? whom] Mr. Disraeli ad-
dressed. There were 248 present. The hour, in consequence of
the levee, was changed from two to noon: otherwise, as the tele-
grams showed, there would have been 333 members present. Sir
Robert Peel never could assemble such a number, even in his
palmiest day.
The battle commenced at five o'clock; at y% past seven the
House divided on Lord Hartington's chief resolution, when he
was beaten by a majority of 107: then he threw up his cards,
and said he would leave it to Mr. Disraeli to do what he thought
best. And he did it.
This immense victory will have an incalculably beneficial ef-
fect on the progress of public business.
To Anne Lady Chesterfield.
2, WHITEHALL GARDENS, June 1, 1875. Before you get this
you will have known the result of the great Opposition plot,
scheme, confederacy, of wh. poor Hartington was the tool, and
the victim.
For more than a month, there has been an organised agita-
tion, to subvert the privileges of the House of Commons, show-
ing that I was totally incapable of dealing with these great ques-
tions, self-confessedly incompetent, and ought to be deprived of
380 SOCIAL REFORM [CHAP, x
the leadership, not only because I was of opinion that no change
was desirable, but had also given my rival such a golden op-
portunity of distinguishing himself and his party. They had
engaged every newspaper in the plot; even the World, and of
course Carnarvon's favorite, the Spectator. The Times began it
before Whitsun with announcing in a series of articles that the
Ho. of Commons was in a state of chaos from my disinclination,
or inability, to settle these inevitable changes. Even 4 and 20
hours ago, they said the Cabinet Council of Saturday was to
receive my resignation, and to listen to the address in wh. it was
to be communicated to the House of Commons.
Yesterday morning I held a meeting of the party in Downing
St., and soon saw they were troops with wh., as the D. of Welling-
ton sd. of his Peninsular legions, that they were men with whom
he cd. march anywhere [stc]. I addressed them in a speech of
55 minutes, and spoke to my satisfaction.
Then, after a long levee, I went to the House of C. ; and at
y% past seven Ld. Hartington, ' the coming man,' was beaten
by a majority of 107 ! ! ! threw up the reins, and begged me to
settle the matter as I liked; wh. I did. There never was such
a smashing defeat. The House in the most signal manner con-
firmed my policy, that no change in our privileges shd. take
place, and it was only owing to my personal influence that I cd.
get them to assent to a slight alteration in one of our rules, 1
wh. will keep the Irish ruffians in order. . . .
I can't get rid of my cough ; but I am stronger, and Sir Wil-
liam [Jenner] maintains every day that I am better. He says
he has to write to the Queen. every day he sees me: but that her
great anxiety about my health is occasioned, he thinks, not so
much from love of me, as dread of somebody else. . . .
To Queen Victoria.
HOUSE OF COMMONS, June 11, 1875. . . . With respect to com-
pulsory education, it was defeated on Wednesday by a majority
of more than 90, and though the majority was even much larger
last year, Mr. Disraeli attributes this diminution only to casual
and social causes; principally Ascot races, always perilous to the
Tories.
Mr. Disraeli had scores of supporters away: the Opposition
only their leader, the Marquess of Hartington.
i At that period strangers, including reporters, were ordered to
withdraw whenever any individual member called attention to their
presence; and the Irish Extremists had made use of the rule to ob-
struct business. The alteration provided that a division should first
be taken, without debate.
1875] THE SULTAN OF ZANZIBAK 381
Lord Henry Somerset, the Controller of your Majesty's House-
Jhold, was absent, and entertaining his friends; among them,
several of your Majesty's Government. Mr. Disraeli was, how-
ever, ruthless; he kept the wires of the telegraph vibrating al-
ternately with menaces and entreaties, and exactly five minutes
before the division, a special train arrived with the Controller
of the Household, and all his wassailers.
Lord Sandon spoke well: and was completely master of his
subject.
To Lady Bradford.
2, WHITEHALL GARDENS, June 13, 1875. . . . I had a Cabinet
at 12, and I gave them a good ' wigging,' I believe that is the
word, for the treatment of the Sultaun of Zanzibar at Ascot.
They sate still and silent, like schoolboys; but my observations
told, for, in the course of the afternoon I received the enclosed
letter from one of the most powerful of our daimios. You know
what those animals are in Japan?
About four o'ck. by appointment, I paid my visit to the Sul-
taun myself. He received me at the door, or rather in the hall,
of his hotel, with all his chiefs. They were not goodlooking, but
he himself is an Arab with a well-favored mien, good manners,
a pleasing countenance, and the peculiar repose of an Oriental
gentleman. Being used, from my travels, to these interviews
and gentry, I addressed him directly, looking in his face as I
spoke, and never turning to the interpreter. This greatly pleases
them, but it is very difficult to do. The audience was successful.
I took Monty (just arrived) with me, and Mr. Bourke the Under
Sec. for For. Affairs. . . .
The article is certainly Gladstone's; I have not seen it, but
I never read anything he writes. His style is so involved, so
wanting both in melody and harmony, that it always gives me a
headache.
The most dramatic moments of the session arose out of
the Merchant Shipping Bill, an apparently prosaic measure,
which, however, resulted in an explosion, dangerous to the
existence of the Government. For some years there had
been a growing movement, headed by Plimsoll, member for
Derby, in favour of legislation to bring merchant shipping
under further control, so as to minimise loss of life among
seamen. The movement was in accord with the social policy
of the Government; and accordingly, the Board of Trade
382 SOCIAL REFOEM [CHAP, x
prepared a Bill. But the subject was a thorny one, and the
Government found it difficult to steer a middle course be-
tween shipowners and humanitarians ; while the difficulties
were increased by the inadequacy of Adderley, the Presi-
dent of the Board of Trade, and his uneasy relations with
the permanent officials of the Board. Disraeli's interfer-
ence became necessary at an early stage.
To Lady Bradford.
2, WHITEHALL GARDENS, April 10. . . . This has been a week
of immense labor, and some anxiety, tho' of more excitement.
. . . The Mercht. Shipping Bill, a measure necessarily of great
importance, was the cause. Before I left town, I was confiden-
tially informed that there were rocks ahead, that Adderley had
quarrelled with all his office, that he was disliked by his own
party in the House, that they wd. not support the Government
measure but Plimsoll, who is a Moody and Sankey in politics:
half rogue and half enthusiast that is to say, one of those
characters who live by pandering to passion, and fall into an en-
thusiastic love and admiration of themselves. I took certain
measures to put things right before I left town, and delegated
the rest to Northcote, who generally succeeds. But alas! not in
this case.
I had a bad despatch at Hughenden, and when I got to town
the Bill being fixed for 2nd reading on Thursday ensuing I
found perfect anarchy. ... I was obliged to undertake the man-
agement of the whole case : a vast and most complicated case, and
of wh. then I knew little. Besides this I have. had to give con-
stant interviews to the confused, the refractory and the vacillat-
ing. After the Cab. on Wednesday, I was obliged to give my-
self to this work, instead of writing to the Queen as I had
promised ; and I did not get things really right in order
until 4 o'ck. on Thursday afternoon, so that they were painting
the scenes as the curtain drew up.
But the result was most triumphant. Adderley, who is after
all a gentleman, and who has been, and may be yet, the victim
of a cabal, behaved very well, and made a discreet opening ad-
dress. We not only carried the second reading, but carried it
without a division, and Plimsoll had to leave the House, being
desperately ill, probably from chagrin. Then the enemy, finding
they cd. not successfully oppose the Bill, tried to adjourn the
debate, wh. wd. have been most injurious to us, but I coaxed the
House into carrying my point. . . .
1875] PLIMSOLL'S DEFIANCE 383
It is perhaps not surprising that, after this troublesome
experience Disraeli and the Cabinet should have preferred,
when a choice had to be made late in July, to drop the
Merchant Shipping Bill in order to proceed with the Agri-
cultural Holdings Bill. But when Disraeli made the an-
nouncement, on July 22, Plimsoll lost patience, moved the
adjournment in order to protest against the abandonment
of the shipping measure, vehemently denounced * ship-
knackers/ shouted that he would unmask the ( villains '
who sent seamen to their graves, pirouetted in the middle
of the floor, shook his fist at Disraeli, and, defying the
authority of the Speaker, flung himself out of the House.
Disraeli, as leader of the House, moved that Plimsoll should
be reprimanded; but he eventually accepted the plea of the
offender's friends that he was in a state of intense excitement
and would, when he was calmer, express regret for his con-
duct; and substituted a motion merely requesting him to
attend in his place on that day week.
The Opposition, who had been on the lookout for a cry
against the Government, thought that they had now found
an excellent opportunity for working upon the humanitarian
feelings of the people. Disraeli's private letters give a
highly coloured story of the proceedings of the next few days,
and show how he turned his difficulties to good account and
finally passed a Shipping Bill after all.
To Lady Bradford.
2, WHITEHALL GARDENS, July 27. I was up till 3 o'ck., and
have a terrible day (days!) before me, but I have risen early,
that, if possible, I might write to you.
The * was an anxious one. A certain person violent,
treating the whole agitation with contempt would not sacrifice
our dignity as a Government, wh. he saw wd. be the result.
Strange to say, he was supported by one of a totally different
temperament, wbo had proved by inexpugnable logic on a previous
occasion that the course then adopted was ' the only one,' and he
stuck to it.
i The dash appears in the original letter. The word omitted ia ob-
viously ' Cabinet.'
384 SOCIAL KEFOKM [CHAP, x
At one moment I thought nothing cd. be effected; but at last,
and with unanimity, there was a decision.
That has had immediate effect at least in the H. of C.
There was ' a meeting ' in the morning of yesterday, as last year,
of an expectant Cabinet. Gladstone was brought up, and Carl-
ingford, who had been President of the B. of Trade, and then
a great opponent of Plimsoll, was consulted. There was to have
been a fierce attack on the Government on the order of the day,
but Sir C. Adderley's announcement stopped all this, and we
went quietly into Committee on the Agri[cultura]l Bill, and
made immense progress, so that I really expect to conclude the
Committee to-day, for I have got the whole morning late from
2 to 7, and then from 9 till the usual hour.
I entreat you not to breathe a word of what I have written
above to any human being. I don't mean Bradford, of course,
from whom I have no secrets, and who is a Privy Councillor,
and whom I wd. trust were he not a P.C.
The Cabinet meets in an hour. We have to settle our meas-
ure ; and what is of not less importance my answer this morning
at 2 o'ck. to Dillwyn, as to whether we will give a day immedi-
ately to P[limsoll]'s Bill. I think as much depends on my reply
as on our measure. . . .
I sadly miss you all, tho' I could not go and see dear Ida, 1 even
if she cd. receive me. I had a talk with Newport in the lobby,
who seems now my only link to domestic life and private happi-
ness. . . .
J[ohn] M[anners], who has just come from O[sborne], says
that the Faery only talked on one subject, and that was her
Primo. According to him, it was her gracious opinion that
the Govt. shd. make my health a Cabinet question. Dear John
seemed quite surprised at what she said; but you are more used
to these ebullitions. . . .
A certain person, the great logician, made, among many other
sharp remarks, a good one yesterday. He said he had not only
not changed his opinion, but believed that the withdrawment of
the Mercht. Ship. Bill wd. have passed without notice by the
country, had it not been for two unexpected incidents wh. we
cd. not have counted on the Plimsoll scene, and the verdict
against a wicked shipowner in the Irish Courts.
The first showed,' he said, what a dangerous man P. was to
trust to in legislation, and the second proved that the existing
law was an efficient one; and yet these two incidents, fanned of
course by faction, have agitated the country. . . .
i Then Lady Newport, now the Countess Dowager of Bradford.
1875] THE PLIMSOLL AGITATION 385
P.S. What do you think of yr. new friend, Delane? I be-
lieve he was at the meeting of the new Cabinet. . . .
July 28, 6 o'ck. I send a rapid line after a morning of great
excitement, of endless and terrific rumors, and all possible events
and combinations Plimsoll, to-morrow, not to appear; Plim-
soll, to-morrow, to appear and re-defy the House; to get into the
custody of the Sergt.-at-Arms at all events, but to come down
first with four brass bands, open carriage with four white horses,
and twenty thousand retainers!
Then our Bill to-day was not to be permitted to be brought
in, and other mischances and difficulties and humiliations. How-
ever, our Bill has been brought in, and I have fixed its second
reading for Friday morning and remain, ostensibly at least,
perfectly calm, amidst a sea and storm of panic and confusion.
My position is difficult in one respect, for the Queen, devoted to
me, can't help me ; for if I were defeated in the House, I cd. not
dissolve, for, in the present fever, I shd. probably get worsted ;
and I can't prorogue, for I have not got my money, the Esti-
mates not yet being concluded.
All I have got to look to are my friends. If they stand by
me, I shall overcome everything, and greatly triumph, but does
friendship exist in August? Does it not fly to Scotland, and
Norway, and the Antipodes or Goodwood? I have seen some
wonderful long faces, that used to smile on me. I neither love
them more nor less. The only beings in the world I care for are
away and Heaven knows even if they spare a thought to me
and my agitated fortunes.
July 29, 10 o'ck. I got your letter an hour ago ; a great con-
solation to me in my fierce life. . . .
Now I know exactly what a General must feel in a great battle
like Waterloo for example with aide-de-camps flying up
every moment with contrary news; and spies, and secret
agents, and secret intelligence, and all sorts of proposals and
schemes.
The Plimsollites, in and out of Parliament, are at me; now
cajoling, now the reign of terror. Their great object is to get
Plimsoll into the custody of the Sergt.-at-Arms, and on my mo-
tion. That, they consider, from what they have been told, is
inevitable if he does not appear to-day; and they are right ac-
cording to precedent. But I am the person to make the motion,
and I will make a precedent too. After the declarations of his
authorised friend in the House, that ' he was off his head,' etc.,
I shall hold him as a man not responsible for his conduct, and
move the adjournment of his case for a month. This will sell
386 SOCIAL REFORM [CHAP, x
them if they try the scheme of his absence T i.e., disobedience
to the commands of the House.
I shd. not be surprised if, after all his bluster, he gives in
and makes an unconditional apology. Every intriguer is trying
to make some fortune by the crisis. Plimsoll has a wonderful
number of enthusiastic friends, very suddenly. I only wish
they had supported our Bill when it was before them, instead of
throwing every obstacle in its way. Horsman is very busy;
asked Monty to luncheon yesterday, told him it was all over with
the Government, tho' he once thought he cd. save them; ad-
vised, as a last resource, that I should deliver a panegyric to-day
in favour of P. and accept his Bill pure et simple.
My own judgment of the House of Commons is that a con-
siderable, and the most reputable, section of the Opposition is
against Plimsoll, and believes, wh. is the truth, that his Bill
wd. injure, not to say destroy, our mercantile marine, and that,
if my friends are firm to me, I shall certainly triumph.
As far as I can hear, I have no reason to doubt their devo-
tion. Many of our most considerable men have told me that
they are prepared, if necessary, to alter all their plans and re-
main by my side. . . .
Tell Bradford I was greatly disappointed that his horse came
in second. I cannot understand why a great noble, with his
brains and knowledge of horses, does not command the turf.
I don't want him to have a great stable, but I want him to have
a famous one; that he shd., at any rate, obtain some first-rate
blood, and then carefully, and sedulously, breed from it, as
Rothschild did with King Tom. I saw the beginning of his plan
at Mentmore, and people turned up their noses at his scheme
and his sire for a while; and yet eventually that blood gave him
the Derby, the Oaks, and the St. Leger in one year. I shd. like
to see that done at dear Weston.
For aught I know, while I write of these pleasant things, the
mob may be assembling wh. is to massacre me. I have several
letters threatening assassination. I shall take no precautions,
but walk down alone with Monty, and meet my fate, whatever
comes. I feel sure, at least almost, that there will be one family
in England who will cherish my memory with kindness and in-
dulgence.
July 30. Everything went off quietly yesterday out of doors,
and triumphantly inside.
Mr. Secy. X, who is naturally a brave and firm man, got so
frightened about his chief, that I believe there were 1000 con-
stables hid in the bowers of Whitehall Gardens and about. But
1875] KESCUE OF THE GOVERNMENT 387
I had no fear, and principally from this, that Monty, who has
been everywhere and doing everything, ascertained that Brad-
laugh and Co. had completely failed in getting up a Clerken-
well mob, as the people said they wd. not go agst. me, who had
passed the Labor Laws for them.
All the meetings in the provinces were held by tel. orders
from the Reform Club; but before they cd. hold their meetings,
at least generally speaking, the announcement of the Govt. meas-
ure had taken the wind out of their sails.
Plimsoll also got restive and did not like the brass bands and
flags, etc., and said he wd. not be made a party tool, and that he
had received more support from the Tories than the Whigs. The
consequence of all this was very much fiasco.
The papers will tell you what took place in the House. The
campaign opened unfortunately for the foe. They tried to stop
public business and failed ignominiously. Adam, the Whig
Whip, who is a gentleman, told Dyke that ' the Plimsoll business
was a flash in the pan.' They did not think so 8 and 40 hours ago.
Then after the failure, I got into Committee on my Bill, and
absolutely at one o'ck. concluded it amid loud cheers. I never
had more continuous, and greater, majorities than thro'out this
Bill.
I am very glad Harry C[haplin] was not at Goodwood. He
has never left my side, and his aid has been invaluable. He is
a natural orator, and a debater too. He is the best speaker in
the H. of C., or will be. Mark my words.
I have a Cabinet at noon : the H. of C. at two, when we have the
2nd reading of our Ship. Bill. I shd. not be surprised if it
passed without a division. The battle of Armageddon, howr.,
will be on Monday, when in Committee they will try to substitute
Plimsolliana for our proposals. I am sending all over the world
for votes. Chaplin has a house full for Brighton races, but re-
mains here. 01 si sic omnia! or rather, omnes.
Aug. 3. We pulled thro', but not triumphantly; had the Op-
position had a leader adequate to the opportunity, we might have
been much humiliated. As it was, it needed much tact and
vigilance to mitigate, or conceal, our concessions; but the enemy
made so many mistakes, and played their cards so ill, that it all
ended better than was once hoped.
Adderley committed an awful blunder! . . .
These political excursions and alarums did not prevent
Disraeli from making frequent appearances in society.
He always set a high value on social influences in consolidat-
388 SOCIAL REFORM [CHAP, x
ing a political connection, and often lamented the backward-
ness of Tory magnificoes and great ladies in providing
counter-attractions to Whig hospitalities. He was deter-
mined to do his own part as Prime Minister; and accord-
ingly, in the spring of 1875, when he had for a while thrown
off his gout, he gave a series of political and Parliamentary
dinners, mixing Royal Princes and Ambassadors with his
peers and Members of Parliament. In this experiment he
was following the counsels of his own Vivian Grey, uttered
fifty years earlier : ' I think a course of Parliamentary
dinners would produce a good effect. It gives a tone to
a political party. The science of political gastronomy has
never been sufficiently studied.' The dinner-parties proved
a great success; and, when Granville started a somewhat
similar series, Disraeli flattered himself that this time it
was the Whigs who were the imitators.
To Anne Lady Chesterfield.
WHITEHALL GARDENS, Feb. 24. . . . I have asked an Ambassa-
dor to each of my dinners, a new feature. . . . Ct. Schouvaloff 1
is a most agreeable man, and very goodlooking, and very clever.
When he had his first audience of me in the spring on his ar-
rival, he cd. not speak or comprehend a word of English. Yes-
terday at the levee be said to me, ' I want to have the honor of
another interview some day, but here I will not talk shop.' And
so I found that be now not only speaks English, but English
slang, quite idiomatic. . . .
To Lady Bradford.
H. OF COMM., Pel). 25, 1875. . . . The dinner, wb. I expected
to be a failure, turned out to be a great success. The physi-
cal part was good. It was jreally a dinner of high calibre
and quite bot, which is wonderful when you have to feed forty.
I sate betn. the German Ambassador and D. of Manchester, who
is silly, but not dull. Next to him was Lothair, 2 who had trav-
elled up from the wilds of Scotland to show his gratitude for his
Thistle. He had other hardships to endure, for it is Lent! and,
of course, he could eat nothing but fish. He managed pretty well,
for he instructed his attendant to secure for him a large dish of
well-sauced salmon, and that sustained him during all the courses.
i The new Russian Ambassador. 2 See above, ch. 4.
1875] POLITICAL DINNERS 389
Claud Hamilton sate next to Lothair, and talked well, and made
him talk. But everybody talked. I think it was the most noisy
party, without being boisterous, I well recollect. These affairs,
generally, are solemn, not to say dull. To make up for the lack
of brilliant furniture, I gave them carte blanche for plants and
flowers; and they certainly effected marvels. . . .
I found Miinster a very capable man, with great conversa-
tional powers. The cold proud Duke of Northumberland sate
next to him, but was grim and acid. . . .
2, WHITEHALL GARDENS, March 15. . . . My new dean
preached: Monty liked him, he never charmed me. What was
good was his length ; twenty minutes, tho' a charity sermon. The
plate brought to me was disgraceful: there were so many six-
pences, that it looked like a dish of whitebait. . . .
It is mentioned to me, and it is true (look in the newspapers)
that Granville, my rival in more senses than one, has copied
my scheme and system of banquets, wh. was quite original. He
started on Saturday, with an Ambassador or two, Vk a dozen peers
(with one Duke at least) and a batch of commoners, tho' he
can only manage ' covers for 26.' I can 42. ...
To Anne Lady Chesterfield.
2, WHITEHALL GARDENS, April 17. . . . Affairs are very heavy
in weight, I mean, not in spirit, for there is no want of that
in external affairs; but I hope to prevent war. It is a proud
position for England if she can do this. 1 . . .
I have got a banquet to-day, and H.R.H. the Duke of Cam-
bridge comes to me : the Duke of Edinburgh on the 28th ; and the
Prince of Wales, I believe, on the Birthday. I have now dined
242 members of the House of Commons and sixty peers. I had
hoped to have finished this campaign by the end of April; but
I shall hardly be able to do it, as there are 112 members of the
Commons to be invited, and they are not contented unless they
meet a certain portion of swells. . . .
Besides giving many dinners himself, Disraeli constantly
dined out, often attended evening parties, and even some-
times, until he was scolded out of his imprudence by Lady
Chesterfield, finished up his night at a ball. If the din-
ner or the party involved a meeting and a talk with Lady
Bradford, it counted with him as a success.
i See below, ch. 11.
390 SOCIAL EEFOEM [CHAP, x
To Anne Lady Chesterfield.
2, WHITEHALL GARDENS, July 3. . . . On Wednesday I dined
at the Malmesburys' a Duke of Cambridge banquet, good com-
pany. I took down Lady Tankerville, who is joyous. On my
other side an Australian, who has beguiled foolish and very young
Ld. into marrying her, on the pretence she is a great
beauty. All the relations are by way of vowing she is so now,
tho' they were very squeamish about the match at first. I thought
her an underbred minx, affecting artlessness, and trying it on
me! I cd. only see Selina at a distance, but after dinner, when
the D. of Cambridge had done with her, I got my turn, and she
was delightful made a rather dull dinner a success. Lady A.
was there. Three great houses were open that night, Grosvenor,
Apsley, and Stafford. But I was firm and went home at once.
This getting to bed before midnight answers very well. . . .
Yesterday I dined at 43, Bel. Square a brilliant and amusing
party. I took down the Dss. of Westminster to dinner and sate
next to Pss. Mary. The Duchess said as we walked in, 'You
are going to sit between the two fattest women in London.' That
might be true; and yet they have both grand countenances, and
are agreeable and extremely intelligent. Indeed Princess Mary
has wit. The Abercorns were there also; the beautiful Viceroy
in goggles! having been struck on his eyes by a cricket ball.
He excels in the game, as in everything. I never saw such roses
as S. had on her dinner-table. I suppose other people have as
good, but she arranges them, or inspires their arrangement, with
peculiar taste. Her party was very successful, the guests wd.
not go, but stayed till nearly midnight, the test of an agreeable
dinner party.
I wd. not go to Dorchester House, where there was a great
festival. I told S. I shd. tell you this, and it wd. please you.
She also was prudent and did not go either.
July 25. . . . Yesterday I dined at Holland House ; a banquet
4 and 20 at least. As they were all grandees, I went out, as
usual, last, and feared I shd. be as badly off as at Lady A.'s,
and dine, as I did there, between two men; but, as I entered, a
faithful groom of the chamber took me under his care, and de-
posited me, by the instructions of the lady of the house, next
to - S. ! She had been taken out by Lord Stanhope. It was a
most delightful dinner, and a most charming evening. We had
Mr. Corney Grain to amuse us, with his songs and mimicry,
and some were quaint and good. S. immensely enjoyed them.
The Grand Mecklenburgs were there, the blind Duke in fits of
laughter; Duke of Sutherland; the Ilchesters who, by an ar-
1875] PERMISSION VERSUS COMPULSION 391
rangement, accede to Holland House on the demise of its present
genial lady; the Malmesburys; some distinguished foreigners,
of course, who knew me years ago.
I had a dreadful accident to my brougham in the evening, and
I fear I shall lose my beautiful horse, the Baron, for whom I
gave 300 gu[ine]as, four years ago, and who has never been ill
a single hour.
Bradford was most kind, as, I must say, he always is to me,
and took me home with S. and Mabel. It was such a happy day
that I did not care much for any accident.
I have 8 and 40 hours' distraction from heavy and anxious
affairs. I shall manage them, but they are hard.
I meet S. at dinner to-day at the Sturts, her great friends;
and then the curtain falls.
July 28. I can't write letters, not even tels. I live in a
storm at the House morning and night ; glad to get off for 12
hours a day; Cabinets early in the morning; called out for
ceaseless interviews : much fright and confusion but I am cool
and have no fear.
I see, as from a tower, the end of all.
Never mind The Times; it will soon change. I will beat even
your Times, wh. I know you are always afraid of; so is dear S.
Amid all this, the servant perpetually comes in, and an-
nounces, ' fruit from Bretby,' ' flowers from B.,' ' butter from B.'
Blessed Bretby! and I can only send you in return my love.
It was the cue of the Opposition to represent the legisla-
tion of the session as petty and valueless, because in two
of the principal measures, the Artisans' Dwellings Bill and
the Agricultural Holdings Bill, the principle of compulsion
was not admitted. In both cases a new departure was made
in English legislation, and Disraeli strenuously upheld the
wisdom of proceeding at first by way of permission, rather
than of compulsion. ' Permissive legislation,' he said on L
the Agricultural Bill, * is the character of a free people.
It is easy to adopt compulsory legislation when you have
to deal with those who only exist to obey; but in a free
country, and especially in a country like England, you must
trust to persuasion and example as the two great elements,
if you wish to effect any considerable changes in the man-
ners of the people.' And again, in the House at the close
392 SOCIAL REFORM [CHAP, x
of the session : ' It is only by persuasion the finest per-
suasion in the world, which is example persuasion in
action, that you can influence, and modify, and mitigate
habits which you disapprove.' The other charge against
Government, which resounded through the Liberal press,
and was even echoed by The Times, was one of Parlia-
mentary mismanagement, largely based on Disraeli's re-
fusal to accept the press view of Parliamentary privilege.
Sir Henry Lucy draws a strong contrast between Disraeli's
success in the Commons in the early part of the session, and
what he considers his failure and feebleness after the
privilege question had been raised. It is possible that Dis-
raeli's regular participation in the social events of the season
may to some extent have exhausted the energy which should
have been directed to Parliamentary management; it is
also possible that Sir Henry, whose contrast on this point
is too much heightened to be convincing, was biassed both
by his Liberalism and by his sympathy with the press.
In any case a great mass of beneficent social legislation was
enacted amid the plaudits of the working classes ; what Dis-
raeli called a ' crucial session ' was successfully surmounted ;
and the attempt of the Opposition just before the proroga-
tion to enforce their apocryphal version of events was easily
repelled. Disraeli himself, in replying to Hartington, was,
says Hardy, ' full of fire, force, and energy, and wound up
our sessional career admirably.'
To Lady Bradford.
2, WHITEHALL GARDENS, Aug. 7, 1875. . . . I was indeed
sorry I cd. not reach Bel. Sqre. last night, but Harty-Tarty could
not rise till nearly eleven. Had he given me 10,000 pounds he
cd. not have done me a greater service than making his attack.
I am rarely satisfied with myself, but I was last night almost as
much as my friends, who were literally in a state of enthusiasm.
I think I left Harty-Tarty in a state of syncope. He sate quite
opposite to me, and I cd. see his face the look of wooden
amazement and the blush of proud confusion. Gladstone was by
him, "having been kept in town for the occasion ; but the bottle-
holder was Lowe, who made copious notes to answer me, but did
1875] A ' CRUCIAL SESSION ' 393
not dare to rise! They all deserted him. The Times has not
even a leading article ' to cover his retreat ' !
Aug. 8. . . . You will be rather pleased to hear that when
we met yesterday x Derby said, ' Our first act ought to be to
thank our chief for closing the campaign by a victory.'
Aug. 9. . . . N. Rothschild, who knows everything, told me
yesterday about the coming art. in The Times. It was written
by Lowe, and shd. have been his answer to me.
Aug. 10. . . . Notwithstanding the House of C. I ventured in
trembling, for a division was impending, to call on Lady Hol-
land, whom I had not seen since the very happy day when she
called me ' naughty boy.'
The servant informed me that her L[adyshi]p had ' gone to
town ' ; she always went on Monday, the only day in the week
she did not receive. ' I thought you wd. know that, Sir,' he
added. ' I did not,' I replied, ' nor did I know this was Monday.'
And I left him staring.
But my disappointment was fortunate, for the division came on
instantly on my arrival, and I had the pleasure of supporting
Geordie Hamilton, who is deservedly a great favorite of mine,
and who, yesterday, as usual, much distinguished himself. . . .
We have done capital business, both in Lords and Commons,
these few last days; and several most important measures, wh.
they pressed me so eagerly to give up a month ago, have been
passed.
Some capital measures of the Chr. of the Exr. wh. Harty-Tarty
taunted me with having to give up, and wh. I thought then were
virtually surrendered, have been carried : but above all, the Trade
Marks Bill, a measure of the utmost gravity and importance, a
subject wh. Parlt. has been hammering at for years, and no
Govt. cd. settle, has been passed triumphantly and will give
profound satisfaction to the whole manufacturing and commercial
world. After the approval of the Speech by the Queen this has
happened, and I have been obliged this morning to insert a fresh
paragraph in the great document.
The Times may scold; it may rave and rant; but it will not
daunt me. I know it greatly influences you, and it rules Anne,
and that the confidence of you both in me is greatly shaken : but
you will see that I am right, and very soon see it, and that
public opinion will decide in my favor. The Queen's Speech is
a document of such weight and authenticity, dealing only with
facts, that the nation is always influenced by this sovereign
summary. . . .
i In Cabinet.
394 SOCIAL REFORM [CHAP, x
Ministers, at any rate, were satisfied with themselves,
and celebrated their successful session with a more than
usually hilarious fish dinner at Greenwich.
To Lady Bradford.
OSBORNE, Aug. 13, 1875. Bradford has told you all about the
fish dinner; therefore I need not dwell on it. I put Geordie
Hamilton in the chair, the youngest member of the Ministry.
They were all astonished and charmed by him: I was not as-
tonished, but charmed. I knew my man. It was a perpetual
flow of wit, and playful humor, and grace; a due mixture of the
aplomb of the statesman and the impertinence of the page.
You know he is authorised by me, while he is in the chair, to
do anything he likes, and say anything he chooses. He is a
sort of Abbot of Misrule; 'tis a carnival, a saturnalia; the Ro-
man slave freely criticising his masters; and Cabinet Ministers
trembled in their shoes before the audacious sallies of this bril-
liant stripling and subordinate. Part of the hilarious ceremony
is the investiture of an illustrious order. The decoration is a
wooden spoon of rather gigantic and pantomimic size. It is
strictly to be given to the member of the Ministry who has been
in the least number of Ho. of Commons divisions; practically it
ought to be the appanage of our stupidest member. Geordie had
the impudence to award it to me, who sate on his right hand ! his
lord and master, and who had helped him a little in his wonderful
summary of the session. Ungrateful youth!
In bygone days, I remember this decoration being awarded to
an eminent gentleman, who has filled great posts, and is now a
member of the Upper House: he was so indignant that he could
not smother his rage and mortification, and actually rose from
his seat and left the room. I was not quite such a fool as that,
but wore my decoration, suspended round my neck by a piece of
cord for the whole evening, and even dared to vindicate, as well
as I cd., the order of Spooneys.
I expected to find that the remaining one of tbe three ladies,
to whom hitherto I have written for some time every day of my
life, had also lost her confidence in me ; but that was not so. She
looks extremely well; ten years younger than when I saw her
last. She almost deigned to say the same of me, and I tried to
cough, lest I shd. be commanded to Balmoral, but could not. . . .
The Queen, I ought to tell you, had ordered the Fairy for my
special use, in order that I shd. not get into boats; but Monty,
by tel. to Ponsonby, declined this, as I think it makes an injudi-
1875] THE BOARD OF TRADE 395
cious distinction from my colleagues, who have been to me faith-
ful and devoted colleagues.
It is decided that Adderley shd. leave the Board of Trade, and
be succeeded by Sir Michael Beach, and that H. Chaplin shall
succeed Beach and go to Ireland as Secretary. Little George
Bentinck also must leave the Board of Trade, but I have been
able, I think, to provide for him. These are great secret?, un-
known to any of my colleagues, and perhaps will not be an-
nounced for a month. I need not impress upon you the most
profound secrecy, always excepting Bradford of course. . . .
The changes which Disraeli foreshadowed to Lady Brad-
ford as imminent at the Board of Trade were never carried
out, save for the removal of Bentinck from the Parliamen-
tary Secretaryship. Both Disraeli and his principal col-
leagues, especially Cairns and Nortbcote, felt, after the
experience of the session, the advisability of strengthening
the Board, but serious difficulties arose in the way of the
suggested shuffle of offices. Northcote, with characteristic
unselfishness, offered to step down from the Exchequer
and take the Presidency himself, but Disraeli would not
hear of the idea. ' I think your proposition monstrous,'
he wrote on August 3. * You are, and ever have been, my
right hand, my most trusty counsellor; and I look to your
filling a higher post than that which you admirably dis-
charge.' The discussions occupied several months of the
autumn ; and finally Adderley was left in possession of his
post, but the Board was strengthened by the appointment, as
Parliamentary Secretary, of Edward Stanhope, the histor-
ian's son, one of the most promising of the younger Tories,
whose death some years later in the prime of manhood was a
real loss to his country.
To Sir Stafford Northcote.
2, WHITEHALL GARDENS, Sept. 23, 1875. . . . Adderley has mis-
taken a letter, which I thought was clear. I lost no time, after
seeing the Queen, in informing him of my intentions, because
I thought, if they reached him from any other source, he might
think himself the victim of an intrigue, which he certainly is not.
But I have done nothing in the matter, tho* I have labored
396 SOCIAL REFORM [CHAP, x
much. I have conferred greatly about it with the Lord Chan-
cellor, and with Dyke and Sclater Booth, and the result has been
nothing.
There are great objections to our increasing the number of
the Cabinet. It is thought, that Adderley might remain, if
George Bentinck were removed, and Ibbetson, who has studied the
railway question, were put in his place, and there is a great ob-
jection to any great change of any kind.
The difficulty about an Irish Secretary is immense. George
Hamilton could not go there with his father V.Roy. Chaplin,
whom I thought of, is not experienced enough for this nest of cor-
ruption, intrigue, and trickery.
I did write to Beach, but after corresponding with the Lord
Chancellor and conferring with Sclater Booth, the letter remains
in my red box, six weeks old, and I will break the seal when we
meet. . . .
To Lady Bradford.
2, WHITEHALL GARDENS, Nov. 12. . . . Adderley's business still
teases me, tho' I have sent word to-day that all must be settled in
4 and 20 hours, or everybody concerned shall go out. Monty is
of use to me, being resolute as well as sharp ; but his interference
is my interference, and I don't want to appear unnecessarily in
these matters. The Cr. of the Exchequer, to whom I look to
arrange these things, tho' very clever, is a complete Jesuit, and
proceeds always by innuendo, wh. coarse natures do not under-
stand. . . .
It was during this autumn of 1875 that events occurred
the insurrection in Herzegovina, the visit of the Prince
of Wales to India, the purchase of the Suez Canal shares
which made, in ever-increasing measure, the foreign policy
and the imperial position of Great Britain the dominating
considerations in the mind of the Prime Minister and in
the counsels of the Government. But Disraeli was also not
without worries in domestic affairs. The Admiralty, after
consultation with the Foreign Office, issued a fugitive slave
circular, drafted by the Law Officers, which roused public
indignation by its apparent reversal of British anti-slavery
policy; it directed the surrender on demand, within terri-
torial limits, of a fugitive slave who had sought the pro-
tection of a British ship. When the storm arose, Disraeli
1875] FUGITIVE SLAVE CIKCTJLAR 397
acted with promptitude and decision. Derby was about to
speak at a banquet at Liverpool, and his chief telegraphed
his wishes.
To Lord Derby.
(Telegram) Oct. 6, 1875. The affair is grave. Many letters
to-day. It should be stated that there is not the slightest change
in our policy, that the instructions have been referred to the Law
Officers, who do not agree in the public interpretation, but that
as there should be no ambiguity on such a subject the instructions
are at present suspended. Answer if you agree.
Derby replied that he entirely agreed, and he made an
announcement in the sense of Disraeli's telegram. Dis-
raeli called the Cabinet together a few days earlier than had
been intended, to take action.
To Queen Victoria.
Confidential. HUGHENDEN MANOR, Oct. 28, 1875. Mr. Disraeli
with his humble duty to your Majesty :
He finds it necessary to call the Cabinet together on the 4th
of November. The immediate cause is the Admiralty Resolu-
tions, respecting slavery.
Although the expressions of Lord Derby at Liverpool, and the
suspension of the instructions and Mr. Disraeli is responsible
both for the expressions and the suspension arrested mischief,
they have not terminated a state of public opinion, with reference
to this unfortunate affair, which may be dangerous. It has got
hold of the public mind more than the newspapers would con-
vey, of which, indeed, your Majesty is aware, for your Majesty
has already called Mr. Disraeli's serious attention to the sub-
ject. . . .
2, WHITEHALL GARDENS, Nov. 5. . . . The consideration of
the Cabinet yesterday was entirely confined to the slave circular
and Admiralty circumstances. The Lord Chancellor, as arranged
with Mr. Disraeli, put the whole question of the instructions
before the Cabinet, and showed, that they were as wrong in law
as in policy. The Cabinet came to an unanimous resolution to
cancel immediately the already suspended instructions, and re-
quested the Lord Chancellor himself to draw up those, which are
to be substituted for them.
A strange affair altogether! That all the Law Officers should
blunder, and that the indiscretion in policy should have been
committed by the Earl of Derby !!!...
398 SOCIAL REFORM [CHAP, x
After this muddle, it is not surprising to find Disraeli
writing next day to the Queen that he ' suffers terribly from
the want of capable law officers. The unfortunate break-up
of Sir John Karslake's health broke the chain, and we have
never been able to find an adequate link.' Within a fort-
night, however, he had secured a team on which he could
rest with much greater confidence.
To Queen Victoria.
2, WHITEHALL GARDENS, Nov. 17, 1875. . . . In consequence of
the promotion of Sir R. Baggallay, it would be desirable, that
your Majesty should sanction that of Sir John Holker to the
Attorney Generalship.
As high legal talent is wanted in the House of Commons, Mr.
Disraeli recommends your Majesty to appoint Mr. Hardinge
Giffard * to the office of your Majesty's Solicitor-General. Mr.
Giffard is not at present in Parliament, but Mr. Disraeli can
arrange to bring that about. 2 There is no lawyer in the Min-
isterial benches, at present, equal to the post. . . .
To Lady Bradford.
2, WHITEHALL GARDENS, Nov. 17. . . . Hardinge Giffard is
Solicitor-General. ... I don't know whether he will turn out as
strong a man as his friends suppose, but at any rate I shall have
a lawyer of high reputation, who will be able to state his opinions
with effect. . . .
Further worry was entailed on Disraeli, and much cor-
respondence with the Court and with the Admiralty, by a
misadventure in the Solent in August. The royal yacht
Alberta, when crossing from the Isle of Wight with the
Queen on board, had the ill-fortune to run down the sailing
yacht Mistletoe with fatal results. Her Majesty was im-
mensely distressed by the accident, and was dissatisfied both
with the public comments and with the incidents and out-
come of the various inquiries which were instituted. But,
with all his burdens and responsibilities, Disraeli was able
1 Now Earl of Halsbury.
2 The arrangement did not prove easy to bring about, and the
Solicitor-General did not appear in Parliament till the spring of 1877,
when he was elected for Launceston.
1875] THE TIMES AND MINISTERS 399
to enjoy a number of country visits, and even to attend the
Doncaster St. Leger, where he betted and lost his money.
When he went subsequently to Sandringham, he had to put
up with plenty of chaff on this adventure from the Prince
of Wales. He told Lady Bradford that he denied his losses
at first, ' having really forgotten that I had been so un-
lucky and so foolish.' ' Sir,' he protested, ' a sweepstakes
with some ladies.' * Oh no,' replied the Prince, * I hear a
good round sum ; paid in bank notes, a rouleau. I always
thought Bunny was sharp, but I never thought he would
top all by putting the Prime Minister on a dead horse ! '
To Lord Bradford.
HUGHENDEN MANOR, Aug. 18. I am most obliged to you for
your kind proposal. If I might, I would offer to come at once,
I mean next Monday the 23rd, for several reasons 1st I shd. be
glad to see Weston with unshrivelled leaf ; 2nd because I am never
happier than under your roof, and with you and yours; and
3rdly because it would save me some terrible local functions,
opening a Cottage Hospital for the hundred of Desborough, and
wh. I wish to foist on the shoulders of Charley Carington, 1 etc.,
etc., the impending sense of wh., I believe, is the cause of my
horrible despondency, wh. does not become a Minister, who has,
I believe, less cause for care and anxiety than any man, who ever
had his hand upon the helm.
You will never see The Times go wrong for any length of
time, tlio' it is managed by those who are personally our foes.
It is managed in this way. They receive daily, I am well in-
formed, about 300 letters from all parts of the country, and it is
from these spontaneous, unpaid and unsolicited, correspondents
that they, after due reflection, derive their cue. The Times
thought it had caught us napping, and attacked us, animated by
their own personal feeling, and tbe passions of their social
patrons, but the 300 letters have poured in since, and they find,
wh. I believe is a fact, that tbe present Ministry is popular with
the country. This is the explanation wh. was given to me by
Baron Rothschild, who is a Liberal and who knows everything.
Here our harvest is splendid! Nothing less, after all our fears
and trials; wages high and rising; our local manufacture, the
chair trade, exporting everywhere, to ' China and Peru ' ! I get
i Now the Marquis of Lincolnshire.
400 SOCIAL REFORM [CHAP, x
2s. per foot for my beech, and can't supply them with the raw
material. My father got 6d. . . .
To Montagu Corry.
HUGHENDEN, Sept. 30, '75.. . . After a short, but satisfactory,
visit to Osborne, leaving my royal mistress in the highest health
and spirits, little anticipating the months of mortification and
anxiety that were then impending over her, I went to this place
for a week. I crossed the Solent in the now too celebrated yacht,
which was accorded to me as a particular attention, and it was
commanded by Welsh!
From Hughenden, I went to Weston for a week or so, and,
they x then going to Longshawe, I made my visit to Bretby,
and joined them again at Wortley, where I passed two or three
agreeable days, and then I went with the Bs. to Sandbeck, where
I had a long engagement for the Race week. I left Sandbeck
and S. on the 18th, when our party broke up, and then I went
to Duncombe, a place of high calibre. Returning, I passed a day
with Harlowe 2 *at Gopsal ! S. was jeal.
I am well, and the old attack once menacing me, I treated it,
determinately, on my own system, and completely baffled it. I
have not had much repose: foreign affairs are troublesome, and
between them and 'the collision,' it has rained telegrams, some-
times, as the diplomatic phrase is, ' in figures.' S. helped me in
this, and is very clever at it. She says ' it is immense fun.'
H.M., I think, has written to me every day, until she went to
Inverary. You really must put the royal correspondence in some
order.
I have had a function to open my new church, and on the
whole, I got through it with less annoyance, than I expected. I
got the Cheshams, without the prize ox himself, and Carington
and Harcourt and N. Sturt to meet the Bishop. Lady Ely was
to have been with us, but continual, and contradictory, tele-
grams about her departure for Balmoral prevented her, to her
and our great vexation, for now she does not depart until to-
night.
I shall see her this afternoon, for I am now going to London,
preliminarily to a visit to-morrow to Sandringham, a farewell
visit previous to his departure for India : and I am asked till the
6th, but this is too long. I was about to enjoy some repose, when
this command arrived, and on the 9th, the Northcotes come
here.
There is a great deal of business, official and personal, rather
iThe Bradfords. 2 Lady Howe.
1875] HUGHENDEN CHURCH RESTORED 401
pressing, to attend to, and he is the best of my colleagues for
that sort of work. He can put his hand to anything. . . .
The prodigality of contributions for my local entertainments
was remarkable. Bretby and Weston vied with each other in
cases of roses and nectarines, and peaches and grapes: haunches
of venison, and mighty hams. When I had got all this, the
Rothschilds must have stripped one of the glass-houses at Gun-
nersbury, and all their gifts provided a public dessert. But what
will surprise, and please, you was a cargo of grapes from Rowton !
The restoration of Hughenden Church had been taken
in hand by Disraeli's new vicar, the Rev. Henry Blagden, a
young and eager High Churchman, whom he had nominated
in 1869. Mr. Blagden had not been the patron's first choice
when the vacancy occurred. Disraeli had begun by offering
the living to a Devonshire friend whose acquaintance he
may have made in his visits to Mrs. Brydges Willyams at
Torquay, the Rev. Reginald Barnes, father of the accom-
plished ladies known on the stage as Violet and Irene Van-
brugh. The offer was at first accepted, and the presentation
was even made out on December 14, 1868 ; but Mr. Barnes
never actually entered upon the living, apparently because
he found that the highlands of Bucks would not suit a deli-
cate man who had long basked in the more genial climate of
Devonshire. Mr. Blagden's energy, and the generosity of
Mrs. Blagden's father, accomplished what Disraeli had long
desired. The Church was a picturesque building, mainly
Early English in style, with a massive tower containing
Norman, if not Saxon, work ; but the roof was unsound, the
tower had a crack extending nearly from top to bottom, and
the walls were so much out of the perpendicular as not to be
safe. Blomfield, the architect, recommended a new roof,
a new aisle with the tower rebuilt at its west end, thorough
repair of the walls, and a remodelling of the chancel. The
patron took the alterations to the chancel as his share. The
work was carried out, birt not without friction, especially
about the manorial right to a seat in the chancel, which
Disraeli successfully asserted. Lady Beaconsfield was dead,
and her husband was too much occupied as leader of Opposi-
402 SOCIAL BEFOKM [CHAP, x
tion and Prime Minister to exercise any personal superin-
tendence over the operations.
To the Rev. Reginald Barnes.
GEORGE STREET, HANOVER SQUARE, Wednesday, June 11 [1873].
I am much touched by your letter, and shall, with satisfaction,
insert your name in the list of our restorers; but as the accom-
plishment of my wishes is not so near as I had hoped, you will,
I am sure, not misinterpret my returning to you, for a time, your
obliging cheque.
Hughenden, in a parochial sense, is no longer the Paradise it
was, for nearly twenty years, under the gentleman x to whom
I wished you to succeed. Parties have arisen among us, the un-
happy Education Act 2 has brought affairs to a crisis, and,
among other evils, it delays, and may even prevent, my consola-
tory intention of connecting the restoration of the church with
the memory of her, whom I have lost. I thought at Whitsun I
had settled these differences, but, since my return to town, they
have broken out afresh; and having a great pressure of public
affairs on me, and being deprived of the wise and skilful energy,
that used to regulate my home interests, I sometimes almost
despair of accomplishing my wishes.
I trust your health is good in the Favonian atmosphere of
your lovely county. I always remember Devon with delight and
affection.
Neither the difficulties hinted at in this letter, nor the
fact that the new vicar felt it to be his duty to protest to
his patron and principal parishioner against the policy of the
Public Worship Regulation Bill, prevented the steady main-
tenance of friendly relations between the manor house and
the vicarage or the cordial encouragement by the squire
of the parochial activities of the vicar and his wife. But
Disraeli wrote of his parson to Lady Bradford, half in jest
and half in earnest, as a ' rebellious priest,' and he was by
no means pleased with the elaborate ceremonial with which
the restored church was opened. In his speech at the sub-
sequent luncheon, after expressing his satisfaction that it
could no longer be said of Hughenden that the house least
honoured in the parish was the house of God, he significantly
i The Rev. C. W. Clubbe. 2 Mr. Forster's Act of 1870.
1875] A ' PROTESTANT PHRASE ' 403
added : ' I trust that we shall show to the country that it
is possible to combine the " beauty of holiness " with the
profession of the pure Protestant faith of the Church of
England.'
To Lady Bradford.
HUGHENDEN MANOR, Sept. 30, 1875. . . . The sacerdotal pro-
cession was tremendous; not only a banner, but the Bishop's
crosier, borne, and certainly nearer a 100 than 50 clergymen in
surplices and particolored scarves. I was resolved not to be be-
trayed into a speech, and especially an ecclesiastical speech; but
I was obliged to bring in a Protestant sentiment by way of
protest. Everything was intoned, and the high altar and its rich
work absolutely emblazoned with jewels. One lady in Warwick-
shire absolutely sent a string of pearls, and not mean ones, to
enrich the altar cloth.
Nothing cd. be more stupid and misapprehensive than The
Times remark on Harcourt's speech; wh. was perfectly playful
and goodhumored, and very happy. It helped us on; he was so
goodterapered that he wd. not allude to the rather ritualistic
display, tho' he was glad of my Protestant phrase, wh. saved
us. ...
Disraeli had hoped for the pleasure of a visit from Lady
Bradford at Hughenden in October; but she disappointed
him at the last moment, and Bradford came alone.
To Anne Lady Chesterfield.
HUGHENDEN MANOR, Oct. 14, 1875. I have been very busy, in
many ways, and out of sorts a little, wh. is awkward when people
are in the house. So I was not in a vein to write even to you.
The Northcotes came here on Saturday, and depart to-morrow :
a long visit, but there was much to do. There never was siich
an indefatigable worker as the Chancr. of the Exr. 1 Yesterday he
went up to town, to clear up some points, but returned for dinner.
Bradford arrived on Monday, in a very good humor. By dining
late, and retiring early, the day dies. We also managed a couple
of rubbers. I can't, myself, get beyond that. In the third rub-
ber my wits are woolgathering: in Downing St., Pekin, the
Herzegovina, and the Admiralty. . . .
Your picture at Hughenden was much admired. Bradford
admired it, and said he wd. have one of S. copied for me, and
i ' He is quite " a little busy bee," ' Disraeli wrote to Lady Bradford.
404 SOCIAL REFORM [CHAP, x
offered me his own. I accepted everything, but as S. wd. not
come here, I do not know whether she wd. care to have her
portrait here ; or rather I do believe that she cares nothing about
the matter.
I was very busy the morning of Tuesday, and have been so all
the time, but we managed pretty well. . . . B[ernal] O[sborne]
came down for dinner, and was, of course, immensely amusing,
and Bradford seemed really pleased. They played whist in the
evening, I sitting out, and Brad [f or] d went off to Weston yes-
terday morning. B. O. departed this [morning], and the Ns.
go to-morrow. . . .
The portraits which Bradford promised reached Hughen-
den early in the New Year.
To Lord Bradford.
Private. HUGHENDEN MANOR, Jan. 11, '76. Lady Bradford
arrived at Hughenden last night; a most charming picture; and
you have signally added to the many kindnesses for which I am
indebted to you and to your house.
It will be the greatest, and the most treasured, ornament of my
Gallery of Affection; for I shall have no portraits in it, except
Byron, but of those who have personally influenced my heart
and life. Those [ ? that] of Her Majesty, after her favorite and
famous new painter, Herr von Angeli, and that of yourself, will
soon arrive, and you will find them, I trust, on your next visit to
Hughenden.
Here is a pleasant picture of Disraeli's w.orking day,
when alone, as Prime Minister, at Hughenden :
To Lady Bradford.
HUGHENDEN MANOR, Oct. 18, 1875. . . . I do not breakfast in
public: I only did that, in the summer, to see you, as I thought
it was perhaps the only opportunity (and it often was) of seeing
you in the course of the day, or of speaking to you, wh. you
always seemed to grudge me.
I always rise at l /z pt. 7, go thro' my bag, and after my toilette,
saunter on the terrace, if the sun shines, and review the peacocks ;
then I go up to my little room (my cabinet), for my corre-
spondence, and work at that till one. Then dejeuner-, and at %
past one, the messenger arrives, and as now I am not at home to
any human being, I change the scene after dejeuner, and work
1875] HUGHENDEN DAYS 405
at my boxes in the library. It is a favorite room of mine, and
I like to watch the sunbeams on the bindings of the books.
Now that you are more knowing in such things, I shd. like to
show you some of my Renaissance books. My Guicciardini and
my Machiavelli are, as becomes such writers, modern editions;
but there are many volumes, of less use no doubt, but of more
rarity, wh. wd. charm your eye and taste.
Some day when I have time, wh. I really have not now, for only
to you cd. I write this, I will tell you about Somnium Poliphili,
the dream of Poliphilus, one of the most beautiful volumes in
the world, and illustrated throughout by Giovanni Bellini, as
only in the Renaissance they could illustrate. But I was de-
lighted yesterday, as I have been delighted before and after, by a
thin folio of the sacred time. It is a letter from Cardinal Bembo
to Giulio de' Medici, opening the Cardinal's grand scheme for
the nation to renounce writing in Latin and dead languages, and
dare to form a popular style in their own beautiful vernacular.
The subject, the author, the beautiful printing, the pages, 400
years old but without p stain all these are interesting circum-
stances; but then the exquisite binding with the tiara and the
keys, and the arms of the Medici, boldly tooled on the side of the
book for Giulio had, in the interval, become Pope Clement 7 !
This was his own copy, and must have been captured and se-
cured in the famous sack of Rome by the Constable of
Bourbon. . . .
2, WHITEHALL GARDENS, Nov. 20. . . . I agree with you in
liking him [Lord Hartington]. Indeed, I think he is exactly
the man to suit you; having all the qualities you require and
appreciate; a certain distinction, only made up of fashion, rank,
intelligence, and personal influence, and none of that imagination
and surplus sensitiveness, wh. disturb the cream of existence,
and wh., tho' for a moment interesting from novelty, are ulti-
mately found to harass and embarrass life. ' He is easy to get
on with because he is not spoilt.' We know who is constantly said
to be ' spoilt,' tho' perhaps most unjustly, and who, therefore, is
not easy to get on with. . . .
CHAPTER XI
AN IMPERIAL, FOREIGN POLICY
1874-1875
It was as an ( imperial country ' that Disraeli, when
laying down his programme in 1872, invited his hearers
to regard Great Britain; to maintain and heighten its im-
perial character was the special work at which he laboured
as Minister. During the early months of his Administra-
tion the process was mainly silent and almost unperceived,
though the diplomatic world soon began to realise that the
atmosphere of British diplomacy under the inspiration of
Disraeli was different from that to which they had grown
accustomed since 1869 ; that observance of European treaties,
respect for British rights, and consideration for British opin-
ion in matters of European concern, were expected and
would, if necessary, be enforced. The veil was a little lifted
in May, 1875, when it was discovered that a wanton renewal
by Germany of her attack on France would be resented not
only by Russia but, under Disraeli, by England also; that
England, with Disraeli Prime Minister, was not prepared
to regard with indifference Continental complications which,
though they might not affect her directly, yet would griev-
ously upset the European balance. A sudden opportunity
in November, 1875, revealed in a flash the new spirit, and
immediately arrested the attention of the world.
The situation of Great Britain when Disraeli was called
to power was in many ways unsatisfactory. There was,
indeed, great prosperity at home. Though the social im-
provement of the mass of the people had not kept pace with
the increase of wealth, and though there had been so many
years of abounding trade and good harvests that, in the
406
1874] THE SUEZ CANAL 407
normal cycle, bad times were nearly due, still the immediate
prospect was good. Abroad, however, the reputation of the
country had sunk. Looked up to for half a century as
the leading power in Europe, she had been treated as a
negligible quantity at the time of the Franco-German War ;
she had permitted Russia to tear up, no doubt under the
guise of due diplomatic formalities, the Black Sea clauses of
the Treaty of Paris; she had so mismanaged her relations
with the United States as to have to put up with a judgment
which condemned her to pay preposterously exaggerated
damages for her negligence during the Civil War. Ger-
many under Bismarck dominated the European field; but
for the moment a more serious domination for the British
Empire was that of Russia in the Near Eastern and Asiatic
field. While Russian influence in this sphere extended from
year~lo year, the direct connection of England with her
great Asiatic dependency of India and with her Australasian
dominions had been rendered less secure. Since the discov-
ery of the Cape of Good Hope, the main route from Europe
to India, and, indeed, the only one, with the exception of
tedious caravan tracks across deserts and mountains under
Turkish control, had been for generations by the open sea
round Africa. In the middle of the nineteenth century
competition had been set up by the establishment of the
overland route across Egypt from Alexandria to Suez; this
involved breaking bulk and was only suitable for passengers,
mails, and light wares. But in 1869 the journey had been
absolutely revolutionised by the opening of the Suez Canal,
which provided the means of a short, and uninterrupted,
sea voyage from England and Europe to India, Australia,-*
and the East. Palmerston had realised what a change the *'i
Canal would make in the defensive position of the British
Empire, and had therefore opposed the project from the
first. Disraeli also had opposed it, relying, however, mainly j
on what he believed to be its engineering impracticability. /
Gladstone had supported it in the name of progress, ridicul-
ing the possibility of danger arising from it to British in-
408 AN IMPERIAL FOREIGN POLICY [CHAP, xi
terests. As the English followed Palmerston's lead and
refused co-operation, the Canal had been built by French
enterprise and French money ; it was managed by a French
company, whose head office was in Paris ; and the shares were
held, roughly speaking, half by Frenchmen, and half by the
Khedive of Egypt, the ruler of the country through which
it passed, who was himself a more or less independent feuda-
tory of the Sultan of Turkey. The Eastern trade was di-
verted at once to the new route, and, from the first, 75 or
80 per cent, of the shipping which used the Canal was Brit-
ish. Accordingly what became, as soon as it was com-
pleted, a vital link in British imperial communications was
J. / < A
under the control of a foreign company and at the mercy of
a foreign ruler. Gladstone, who held office during the first
five years of the Canal's existence, refused, in spite of sev-
eral opportunities and of the representations of some of his
colleagues, to take any steps to remedy this unsatisfactory
position and to secure British interests in the new water-
way.
Meanwhile Russia was pressing on. both in Europe and
in Asia. In Europe she had restored her power in the Black
Sea, had started a menacing Pan-Slavonic propaganda, and
was becoming as formidable as ever to the Sublime Porte.
In Asia, in spite of repeated assurances from the Tsar and
his Ministers to the contrary, her proconsuls were rapidly
advancing her frontiers by annexing, one after another, the
decadent Tartar and Turcoman States which occupied the
country between Siberia on the north, and Persia,
ghanistan, and India on the south. General Kaufmann,
became Governor of Turkestan in 1867, captured
amarkand and subdued Bokhara in 1868, and reduced
in. 1873, proceeding in 1875 to the conquest of
north of the Syr Dary-ft In 1870 he opened
friendly communications with the Ameer of Afghanistan,
into whose immediate neighbourhood Russian power had
now penetrated. The Indian Government, to whom the
Ameer referred this new development, treated it with in-
1874] DIFFICULTIES IN THE EAST 409
difference, relying on the assurances of the St. Petersburg
Government that they regarded Afghanistan, the frontier
State across which an invader from the north-west must
advance to attack India, as completely outside the sphere of
Russian influence. Kaufmann was therefore able to pro^_
ceed without interference in a persistent policy of tampering
with the Ameer's fidelity to the British connection. After
the fall of Khiva, Slier AH, the Ameer, felt that the ad-
vance of Russia made it indispensable for him to know where
he stood between the two great European forces in Asia.
He asked for a definite promise of aid from the British Gov-
ernment in case of Russian attack; and one of the last acts
of Gladstone's Ministry was to refuse, in adherence to the
policy of avoiding all intermeddling with .
Afghanistan,, any definite engagement beyond vague assur-
ances of support. From this time Sher A.1J
tated to the RussiaiTside.
For dealing with difficulties of this kind Disraeli was
especially fitted by the bent of his mind and the experi-
ences of his career. It was the fortune of Great Britain,
at a time when the British Empire in Asia and the highway
to the East were threatened, to have a Prime Minister of
Oriental extraction and imagination, whose whole outlook
had been coloured at the most impressionable period of his
life by his travels in the Levant, and who had played a large
and decisive part in the affairs of India in the troubled ^fif-
ties. Disraeli's personal and anxious attention to the prob-
lem was therefore assured ; but he necessarily relied much on
two colleagues, his Foreign Secretary and his Indian Sec-
retary, Derby and Salisbury. The, intimate political and
personal relations which had bound him to Derby from the
first made their confidential co-operation, in spite of seri-
ous differences of temperament, easy and natural ; but with
Salisbury, just converted from critic into colleague, the be-
ginnings of mutual trust had to be created. Disraeli, guided
by goad feeling no less than by his knowledge of men, set
himself to win confidence by giving it ; showing abundantly
410 AN IMPERIAL FOREIGN POLICY [CHAP, xi
the reliance lie felt on his colleague's capacity to administer
rightly the great affairs entrusted to his care, and his own
anxiety to help and support him in all difficulties; and re-
curring, as we have seen, to his advice on many impor-
tant matters outside departmental work. Approximation
was aided by the mutual realisation of a great community
of aim in imperial affairs, and of a considerable similarity
of temper and method in dealing with them. A lover of
peace, Salisbury was never afraid on fitting occasion to as-
sume serious responsibilities which might lead to war;
resembling in this respect his chief, and having none of that
tendency to hesitation and procrastination which often
afflicted Derby at a critical moment.
In the very first days of the Government we find Disraeli
making arrangements for combined working with Derby
| and Salisbury, and following with keenness the Kussian
"advance in Central Asia,
To Lord Salisbury,
BRIGHTON, March 7, 1874. Lord Northbrook's letter is dated
Feb. 5th. He had then received Sir Henry Rawlinson's mem.
but does not seem to have received a copy of Lord Granville's
^despatch to Ld. A. Loftus dated Jan. 7th; but wh. as I learn, was
| not sent off till the 17th.
Lord Northbrook cd., therefore, know nothing of the subse-
quent assurances of the Russian Government; that no such ex-
pedition, as he referred to, was to take place.
The despatches of Lord A. Loftus in consequence of Lord
Granville's despatch, and the concluding despatch of Prince
Gortchakoff to Comte Brunnow, of wh. a copy was left with
H.M.'s Government (communicated to Granville by Brunnow on
the 17th Feb.), contain, on the part of the Russian Govt., a
complete disclaimer of the intentions, wh. it was supposed to
entertain at the time when Lord Northbrook's letter was written ;
this information is, therefore, superseded by what we have since
heard.
The Russians may be lying, but we cannot do more, so far
as diplomacy is concerned, than obtain from them such pledges
as they have given.
But the question arises, have you seen these despatches? I
have in MS. ; and they are, now, in that form, I believe, circulat-
1874] DISRAELI, DERBY, AND SALISBURY 411
ing thro' the Cabinet but it strikes me, that the system of
communicating such information among ourselves is not a very
convenient one.
The whole correspondence is in print at the F. O. by this time,
and a copy will, of course, be sent to each Cab. Minister. This
by the way.
It seems to me, that a private communication to you from the
Viceroy should be treated as a private letter from an Ambassador
to the For. Secy, of State. It is always forwarded to the P.
Minister, but not circulated, unless it leads to questions of in-
stant business and responsibility.
In the instance of Northbrook's letter, had it been sent oil to
me immediately, I should have requested you and Lord Derby
to have met me at D. S. and then we would have ascertained
exactly how we stood. There ought to be some system, especially
in these times, when the Secretaries of State for F. O. and
India should be able to communicate with more promptitude, and,
if necessary, reserve, than at present seems the habit. I do not,
at this moment, see any better system, than that which I have
intimated but we will talk the matter over together, and I
doubt not will arrive at a sound conclusion.
I question, also, the expediency of sending despatches, like
Lord Northbrook's, in a common circulation box, except marked
1 strictly confidential.' In these days, every private secy, has a
Cabinet key, I believe perhaps I might add, I fear; and we
should encourage some processes of reserve.
I feel confident you will not be offended by the frankness of
these remarks. They are literally current e calamo, and are jotted
down rather for our future joint consideration, than in any spirit
of pedantic over-regulation. . . .
Not merely the Central Asian question, but also that of
the J3uez Canal, was forced on Disraeli's attention immedi-
ately on assuming office. Ferdinand de Lesseps, the great
Frenchman who had conceived and executed the work, had
hitherto failed to make it remunerative, and had in conse-
quence given the Gladstone Government those opportunities
of securing British interests in the Canal which they had
neglected to utilise. His latest resource had been to in-
crease the tonnage duties from which the company de-
rived its revenue by levying them on a novel basis which
the maritime nations, and especially Great Britain, con-
412 AN! IMPERIAL FOREIGN POLICY [CHAP, xi
sidered not to be warranted by the terms of the concession,
and which, early in 1874, had been condemned as illegal
by an International Commission. Lesseps defied the Com-
mission and the British Admiralty, insisted that no ship
should be let through the Canal which did not pay on the
higher scale, and was only reduced to reason by the mobilisa-
tion by the Khedive of 10,000 men to evict the company.
To Lord Derby.
WHITEHALL G., April 23, 1874. The Lesseps affair is getting
serious; he has gone to Jerusalem to get out of the way, but
there is little doubt he intends mischief, at least what we call
mischief, for, so far as I can judge, the law is on his side.
I do not like to contemplate the Canal being shut up for
months, wh. will probably be the case.
Could we advise the Porte to postpone the enforcement of tbeir
regulations for one month; and, in the interval, make an ar-
rangement ? Lesseps is ' tou jours pret de negocier sur la base
du droit.' His self-love would be spared and soothed, if you
took the matter in hand, and you would gain European glory.
My own opinion is that tbe ultimate and proper solution would
be an International Commission, like that of the mouths of the
Danube.
From Lord Derby.
Private. F. O., April 24, 1874. Read Col. Stokes's mem. on
the Suez Canal. . . . You will see in this the true explanation
of Lesseps's conduct. The surtax question is little more than a
pretext. Our engineers were right as to the difficulty of keeping
up the Canal when made. Port Said is silting up, and cannot
be maintained in a state of efficiency without an outlay greater
than the company can afford, except at an absolute sacrifice of
profit for years to come. In fact, the undertaking is all but
bankrupt: and M. L[esseps] is probably well pleased at having
an excuse to get out of it.
We cannot let the Canal go to ruin : it is too useful to us.
Stokes suggests buying out the shareholders, by guaranteeing
them a fixed dividend, and working the Canal through the agency
of an International Commission. There are difficulties in the
way, obvious and grave; but things really look as if this were
the only way out of the scrape. . . .
Our course is plain. Lesseps has put himself in the wrong,
all the Powers are agreed in saying so (even France) : and we
EDWARD HENRY, FIFTEENTH EARL OF DERBY.
From a photograph by the London Stereoscopic Co.
1874] NEGOTIATIONS WITH LESSEPS 413
must maintain our decision. That does not preclude his being
fairly, and even generously treated. But you must bear in
mind, in considering his recent sayings and doings, that the
thing is a commercial failure, utter and hopeless, and that he
knows it.
Disraeli did not rest content with solving the immediate
difficulty. He made up his mind to secure British in-
terests in the new waterway by obtaining some control over
the company, whose ' bankrupt ' state seemed to provide an
opportunity. He went to work, not through the regular
diplomatic agency, but by the private methods which he
had used in the Government of 1858-1859, when he had sent
Earle on a mission to Napoleon III. It was, on one side,
a financial matter, and he invited in May the aid of the
prince of financiers, his old friend Baron Lionel de Roths-
child; with the result that Rothschild's eldest son, M.P.
for Aylesbury, and afterwards Lord Rothschild, went over
to Paris to intimate to Lesseps that the British Government
were prepared to purchase the Canal if suitable terms could
be arranged. The mission was a failure. French patriotic
feeling, then reviving after the disasters of the war of 1870,
was not disposed to tolerate any surrender of French rights
over a French canal ; and Lesseps, after his repeated rebuffs
by England in past years, and his quarrel with the British
Government and British shipowners over the tonnage ques-
tion, was in no mood to renew his previous offers. Disraeli
was disappointed, but waited his time, keeping constantly
in touch with the Canal authorities. ' On more than one
occasion/ he told the House of Commons in 1876, ' M. de
Lesseps came over here himself, and entered into commu-
nication with us as he had before with our predecessors,
but there was no possible means of coming to any settle-
ment which would be satisfactory to the proprietary.'
In the comparative calm of the first eighteen months of
the Disraeli Administration, a few episodes in foreign
affairs attract attention, and may serve to indicate the
Prime Minister's aims and methods. A visit to London,
414 AN IMPERIAL FOREIGN POLICY [CHAP, xi
during the first session, of the Tsar Alexander, whose
daughter had just been married to Queen Victoria's second
son, the Duke of Edinburgh, was the occasion of a difficulty
with the Court, which Disraeli was able to settle in such a
fashion as to command the admiration of his colleagues,
and to contribute materially to the maintenance of friendly
relations with Russia. The Emperor's visit was to be
prolonged for a couple of days beyond the date fixed by
the Queen for entering upon that spring sojourn at Balmoral
which her physicians prescribed for her health; and Her
Majesty refused at first to modify her plans.
From Lord Derby.
Private. F. O., May 4, 1874. The more I think of the mat-
ter, and the more I hear what is said, the stronger becomes my
conviction that the Queen's going away during her guest's stay
in England will really make a serious trouble. It will be talked
of everywhere as an instance of incivility so marked as to
appear intentional: it will be resented by the Russians, who are
as touchy as Yankees, and for the same reason : it will entirely
destroy whatever good result may be expected from the marriage
and the visit : in India it will be taken up by the native press
much of which is nearly as seditious as that of Ireland as a
; proof that the two countries are not really on good terms; and
what possible excuse can we make? Not health, for if the great
lady can bear 5 days of ceremonies she can bear 7: not public
: business, for what has she to do at Balmoral? It is ... the less
excusable because, of all persons connected with the reception, she
will have the least personal trouble.
As a rule, I try always to keep matters which concern the Gov-
ernment, and matters which concern the Court, as far apart as
possible : but it is not always possible : and if there is a row, part
of the blame will fall on us.
Do try what you can to set this business right. Nobody can
have managed the lady better than you have; but is there not
just a risk of encouraging her in too large ideas of her personal
power, and too great indifference to what the public expects? I
only ask : it is for you to judge.
To Lady Bradford.
Ho. OF COMM., May 5. My head is still on my shoulders.
The great lady has absolutely postponed her departure! Every-
1874] THE EMPEROR ALEXANDER 415
body had failed, even the Prince of Wales; but she averted her
head from me at least I fancied so at the drawing room to-
day, and I have no doubt I am not in favor. I can't help it.
Salisbury says I have saved an Afghan War, and Derby compli-
ments me on my unrivalled triumph. . . .
From Queen Victoria.
May 7. . . . [The Queen] feels much the kindness of Mr.
Disraeli as expressed to herself and Sir William Jenner on the
occasion of the delay of her departure for Scotland. ... It is
for Mr. Disraeli's sake and as a return for his great kindness that
she will stop till the 20th. . . . The Queen thinks Lord Derby
and Lord Salisbury have little knowledge of what is the etiquette
between Sovereigns.
Disraeli took his full share in the festivities held in
honour of the Russian visit.
To Anne Lady Chesterfield.
2, WHITEHALL GARDENS, May 15, 1874. . . . Yesterday was the
great festival at Windsor, and really not unworthy of the Crown
of England. St. George's Hall was a truly grand scene, and
cd. not be easily surpassed : at least I have never seen it equalled,
tho' I have dined, in the great days of France, in the Gallery of
Diana. . . .
The Emperor is high-bred : dignified, but soft in his manners,
not that ton de gamison wh. offends me sometimes in the Russian
Princes, particularly the Cesarevitch, and the Grand Duke Con-
stantine.
I only arrived from Windsor to-day at noon. At 3 o'ck. I am
to have an audience of the Emperor at Buckingham Palace. I
dine at Marlboro' House to meet him; and I close with a ball
at Stafford House in his honor! And at ^2 past four I must be
at the House of Commons! It is difficult to get thro' such a
day, and I have to change my dress as often as an actor! . . .
May 16. . . . At three o'ck. the Emperor held a levee of the
Diplomatic Body and our Ministry at Buckingham Palace.
There I had an audience, which was an audience rather of phrases,
but nothing but friendliness to England and hopes that my Gov-
ernment wd. cherish and confirm those feelings. His mien and
manners are gracious and graceful, but the expression of his
countenance, wh. I now could very closely examine, is sad.
Whether it is satiety, or the loneliness of despotism, or the
416 AN IMPERIAL FOREIGN POLICY [CHAP, xi
fear of violent death, I know not, but it was a visage of, I
should think, habitual mournfulness. . . .
The Government and the Queen did not miss the op-
portunity to strengthen the bonds of amity between England
and Russia. Under Derby's advice the Queen expressed
to the Emperor on his departure her desire for a frank and
free exchange of ideas at all times, so as to avoid misunder-
standings between the two countries a desire which Alex-
ander reciprocated. Disraeli, however, did not believe that
in existing circumstances complete agreement was possible.
He wrote to Salisbury on June 2 : 'I have no great faith
in a real " understanding with Russia " as to our Eastern
possessions, but much faith, at this moment, in a supposed
understanding, wh. will permit us to avail ourselves of
the present opportunity of settling and strengthening our
frontiers.'
Early in 1875 differences about the proper treatment
of the Spanish Government brought out in high relief the
characters of four individuals who were shortly to have
a large share in moulding that Eastern policy by which
the Beaconsfield Government is mainly remembered. The
chaos of Republican administration in Spain had culmin-
ated towards the close of 1874 in a strong movement for
a Bourbon restoration; and in January, 1875, the young
Alphonso, son of the ex-Queen Isabella, was proclaimed
King. Queen Victoria, attracted by the romance of a
youthful Prince restored by an unexpected turn of For-
tune's wheel to his hereditary throne, and anxious to sup-
port the cause of the Constitutional Monarchy in Europe,
pressed for his immediate recognition, and for the observ-
ance by the British Government of a very sympathetic at-
titude to the new regime. Derby, the Queen complained,
was ' so terribly impartial that he will never express in-
terest one way or the other ' ; but it was surely wise, in
regard to a country which had gone through so many revolu-
tions in the past six years, to use the caution and circum-
1875] LAYARD AT MADRID 417
spection by which the Foreign Secretary was, above all men,
distinguished. Derby was confirmed in his waiting atti-
tude by the British Minister at the Spanish Court. This
was Austen Henry Layard, the excavator of Nineveh, an
old acquaintance of Disraeli's, nephew of the Austens who
had befriended the young author of Vivian Grey. Layard,
a Palmerstonian Liberal, had been Foreign Under-Secretary
in Palmerston's last Administration; and was therefore
more in sympathy with the Republican Government which
had fallen than with the Conservative Administration which
Alphonso established and which necessarily relied on Catho-
lic support. But in any case he was right in advising the
Home Government to be cautious, as a formidable Carlist
insurrection on the one hand and the discontent of the Re-
publicans on the other rendered Alphonso's prospects doubt-
ful. The Queen was impatient of these arguments, which 1
Derby pressed on her with more logic than sympathy, and
wrote of him to Disraeli as l that very peculiar person Lord
D.,' who was ' very difficult to manage.' It needed all Dis-
raeli's tact, and his loyalty to his Sovereign on the one hand,
and to his colleague and his colleague's agent on the other,
to steer through the difficulties. He was less disposed than
Derby to trust Layard entirely, and wrote to Derby on
January 12 : ' It is unfortunate, at this crisis, we have
such a man as Layard there. Tho' of unquestionable
talents, he is prejudiced and passionate, and always I
will not say misleads but certainly misinforms us ' ; on
February 20, ' his tone is not diplomatic ' ; and on March
2, he deprecated ( the exaggerated view Mr. Layard takes
of the Protestant party and interests in Spain. They really
are nothing,' Disraeli shrewdly added, ' and tho', when the
Republican and infidel party is in power, the Protestants
are permitted to hold up their heads in order to mortify the
Church, their number and influence are alike contemptible.'
But, as he told Derby, ' I make it a rule to support every-
thing which you have well considered,' and therefore sus-
tained his policy against the royal remonstrances.
418 AN IMPERIAL FOREIGN POLICY [CHAP, xi
He was, however, especially anxious to promote a cordial
and sympathetic feeling between his royal mistress and
his colleague, and succeeded at any rate for the moment.
The artist, the diplomatist, and the courtier in Disraeli are
all brilliantly displayed in a letter which he wrote to the
Queen describing his management of his uncourtly friend.
To Queen Victoria.
2, WHITEHALL GARDENS, March 21, 1875. Mr. Disraeli with
his humble duty to your Majesty :
He is grateful to your Majesty for your Majesty, amid all the
cares and pressure of public business, graciously making him
acquainted with the result of the audience of the Secretary of
State. It much relieved Mr. Disraeli, for the disquietude of
your Majesty on this matter has often greatly distressed him.
He had an interview with Lord Derby after the Cabinet, which
was at 12 o'clock and lasted two hours. Mr. Disraeli spoke to
him very seriously and earnestly about affairs, and adjured him, in
the approaching audience, to do justice to himself, and step out
of his icy panoply.
The necessary gulf, between a Sovereign and her Ministers,
is no bar to confidence and sympathy, and, without these quali-
ties, it is difficult to see how public affairs in England can be
satisfactorily carried on.
Lord Derby did not speak a single word, but, when Mr. Dis-
raeli closed the interview, he would accompany Mr. Disraeli, and
when they reached the street door in Downing Street, instead
of going into the Foreign Office, he offered Mr. Disraeli his arm,
and would walk home with him, but in silence.
Mr. Disraeli invited him to enter his house, and lunch. He
replied he never lunched; it prevented work. And, then, even
with softness, he gave Mr. Disraeli his hand, which is not his
habit, and said 'Good-bye, old friend.' 'Dear friend' Mr. Dis-
raeli assumes Lord Derby would say to no one, but Mr. Disraeli
had hopes, from this moment, that the impending audience might
happily bear fruit. . . .
The points of view of the Queen and the Foreign Secre-
tary were, however, too divergent to be permanently recon-
ciled. The Queen pressed for the removal of Layard to
some other post, and Derby definitely appealed to his chief
for support. ' The question really is,' he wrote on April
1875] DERBY AND THE QUEEN 419
22, ' whether our representatives abroad are to send state-
ments of fact which seem to them true, or to colour them and
dress them up to suit what they suppose to be the prevailing
ideas at home. ... I cannot agree to any proposal for
[Layard's] removal, unless it were to give him a better
post; and even then I do not think this would be a con-
venient time/ Disraeli at once (April 24) rallied to his
colleague's side. ' As I do not think you ought to bear all
the brunt of the fray, I have written to the great lady, I
think, conclusively on the matter: telling her that, in the
opinion of her Govt, L. is substantially correct in his views ;
that he cannot be removed, as it would be a triumph to the
Parti Pretre'
The Queen, according to her sound constitutional prac-
tice, yielded to her Prime Minister and Foreign Minister;
but her instinct was right as against Derby's caution and
Layard's prejudice. Alphonso XII. established his posi-
tion, to the advantage of Spain and of Europe, and his son
occupies his throne to-day with a granddaughter of Queen
Victoria as his royal consort. Layard was retained at
Madrid till he was promoted in 1877 to be the convinced
instrument, at the embassy at Constantinople, of that East-
ern policy which Beaconsfield forwarded with the Queen's
support, but which Derby resigned rather than pursue at
the risk of war.
The outstanding fact of the international situation in
Europe, as Disraeli found it on his return to power, was
the dominance of Germany, and of German's masterful
Chancellor, Bismarck. He had consolidated the German
people into a strong Empire under the Prussian kingship;
he had bound Austria to his chariot, though as yet only
informally; he had humbled and crippled France; he was
in friendly relation with Russia; and he was now, by legisla-
tion subjecting the churches to the State, trying a fall with
the Pope. His experience of the Gladstone Ministry in-
clined him to regard England as a negligible factor in
European affairs; but, until he had better assurances of
420 AN IMPERIAL FOREIGN POLICY [CHAP, xi
the temper of the new Government,; he showed them a
benevolent friendliness, proffering them in particular his
good offices in regard to the Eastern Question. ' I begin to
think Bismarck means business,' wrote Disraeli to Derby
on January 6, 1875, after reading a despatch from Lord
Odo Russell, British Ambassador in Berlin ; l and, if so,
V the future may be less difficult.'
German policy in the spring made the position not less
but more difficult. Catholic Belgium was stirred to its
depths by the progress of Bismarck's campaign against the
Pope; and things were said and done there by bishops and
others which were made the excuse for grave warnings by
the German Government. Belgium was told that, while it
was incumbent upon every State not to allow its territory
to be the basis of attacks against the peace of neighbouring
States and against the security of their subjects, the doc-
trine applied with special force to a State enjoying the
privilege of neutrality; that the perfect fulfilment of that
;uty was a tacitly presumed condition of its neutrality,
elgium promptly amended its penal laws in response to this
Ithreat to its neutrality and independence; but Disraeli be-
gan to realise that it would be necessary to stand up to Bis-
ji marck, if life in Europe for other, and particularly smaller,
if nations was to be tolerable. On reading the despatches from
Brussels, he wrote on April 18 to Derby: ' We shall have
no more quiet times in diplomacy, but shall be kept in a
btate of unrest for a long time : probably till the beginning
of the next thirty years' war.' He gave a hint in the House
pf Commons. jj
t To Queen Victoria.
HOUSE OF COMMONS, April 12, 1875. . . . Mr. Disraeli has an-
swered a question to-night about Germany and Belgium, which
he hopes may do good, and will not displease your Majesty.
Pie endeavored to convey the impression, that cordial and con-
fidential relations existed between your Majesty's Government
and that of Germany, which is flattering to Prince Bismarck, and
which he wishes to be believed, but at the same time, struck a
clear note about Belgium, which the House understood, and
1875] GERMAN MENACE TO FRANCE 421
cheered. A county member said to him when he sate down,
' It was trust in God, and keep your powder dry.'
From warning Belgium Germany passed to menacing
France. The German press was mobilised to call attention
to the rapid resurrection of French military power and
preparation, German diplomatists held language of a similar
character in the various European capitals, Bismarck him-
self spoke serious words to Odo Russell; and it looked as
if he were endeavouring to force a quarrel upon his recent
victim before her recovery was complete, in order to crush
her once for all. France turned for support to Russia
and England, and her Foreign Minister appealed to public
opinion by communicating the facts to Blowitz, the famous
Paris correspondent of The Times. But even before Blow-
itz's article appeared on May 6 and horrified a world desir-
ous of peace, the Tsar Alexander, who was about to pay a
visit to the German Emperor at Berlin, seems to have inter-
posed and sent an urgent message to his expectant host
deprecating a hasty decision ; and Derby was able on May 2
to write, perhaps prematurely, to Disraeli : ' I believe the
alarm is over now, but nobody will answer for next year.'
Disraeli was fully alive to the danger, and resolved to
show Bismarck and Europe that England was to be reck-
oned with ; ' Bismarck is really another old Bonaparte again,
and he must be bridled,' he wrote to Lady Chesterfield.
His former tendency to a political friendship with France
was revived, ' I had a rather long conversation about
French politics with Mr. Disraeli,' wrote Lord Lyons, Brit-
ish Ambassador in Paris, on April 21, * and I found him
thoroughly well up in the subject. He wishes to encour-
age confidence and goodwill on the part of France towards
England, but sees the danger to France herself of any such
appearance of a special and separate understanding as
would arouse the jealousy of Bismarck.' * Disraeli was
entirely in accord with the Queen, who wrote on May 5,
that ' every means should be used to prevent such a mon-
i Lord Newton's Lord Lyons, Vol. II., p. 73.
422 AN IMPERIAL FOREIGN POLICY [CHAP, xi
strous iniquity as a war ' ; and Derby gave formal assurances
in this sense to the French Government.
To Lord Derby.
2, WHITEHALL GDNS., Nay 6, 1875. I had an audience yester-
day; she was very gracious, and, speaking entirely on foreign
affairs, I thought very sagacious and intelligent.
She is much pleased with your letter which she praised highly ;
* clear and full,' she said. She was ready to do anything, that
you and I wished her to do in these matters; would write, if we
wished it, to the Emperor of Russia, etc., etc. She said the
Emperors met at Berlin on Monday, and they would be there two
days. Then she threw out the idea, that Ld. Cowley might be
sent there by you and so on.
My own impression is that we shd. construct some concerted
movement to preserve the peace of Europe, like Pam did when
he baffled France and expelled the Egyptians from Syria.
There might be an alliance between Russia and ourself for this
special purpose; and other powers, as Austria, and perhaps Italy,
might be invited to accede. . . .
May 8. I replied, that in all probability, Schou[valoff] 1 was
with you at this moment, and that I wd. write to her at Windsor
after I had seen you: also, that there was a Cabinet to-day at
three, and, if necessary, I wd. write after that.
I have just got Odo's letter. It only makes me more anxious
to pursue the course we contemplated yesterday. . . .
It was on a Saturday that the Cabinet was held, and the
Tsar and his Chancellor, Gortchakoff, were due for the Ber-
lin visit on the following Monday. Odo Russell was in-
structed by telegraph strongly to support the Tsar's move-
ment for peace; and the Queen wrote to both Emperors
in the same sense. Ministers felt fairly confident because,
as Derby wrote to Disraeli on May 10, 'we know what
the [Russian] Emperor is prepared to say and that it is
in the sense we desire.' The next day they learnt that the
British Ambassador had received all the requisite assur-
ances.
i Russian Ambassador in London, who had just returned from St.
Petersburg to his post, via Berlin.
1875] BRITISH INTERVENTION 423
Lord Odo Russell to Lord Derby.
(Cypher telegram.) BERLIN, May 11, 1875. I have had a
most satisfactory interview with Prince Gortchakoff at Prince
Bismarck's house. They are both agreed that the peace of Europe
shall not be disturbed, and co-operate for the maintenance of
peace.
Confidential. Prince Gortchakoff has since called to tell me
that he is so perfectly satisfied with the result we have achieved
and the assurances given that he thinks we had better say no
more for the present and allow the subject to drop.
To Anne Lady Chesterfield.
2, WHITEHALL GARDENS, May 12. We shall have peace. . . .
The news from Berlin came in the middle of the night on Mon-
day, but they wisely did not wake me. However, it gave me an
appetite for breakfast. . . .
The measures taken, first by Russia, and then by Great
Britain, had been successful. Peace was for the time as-
sured ; and both the German Emperor and Bismarck strongly
protested that Germany had never for a moment entertained
the intentions attributed to her. The world, however, has
made up its mind that the menace was real ; the only ques-
tion still in doubt is whether it proceeded from Bismarck
himself, or from the military party forcing his hand. As
England did not take action until after the Emperor of
Russia had intimated to Berlin his strong disapproval,
British intervention on this occasion has often been treated
as of little account. In accordance with his temperament,
the Foreign Secretary himself was one of the principal
minimisers.
To Lord Derby.
HUGHENDEN MANOR, May 18, '75. Your policy seems to be
very popular, and very successful I congratulate you heartily.
It is encouraging. We must not be afraid of saying ' Bo to a
goose.'
But we must get our forces in trim. We shall be able to do
that next year. The revenue is coming in well.
424 AN IMPERIAL FOREIGN POLICY [CHAP, xi
From Lord Derby.
KNOWSI.EY, May 20. . . . We have been lucky in our foreign
policy; for what we did involved no risk and cost no trouble,
while it has given us the appearance of having helped, more than
we really did, to bring about the result.
To Lo r d Derby.
2, WHITEHALL GARDENS, May 30, '75. Let me earnestly im-
press upon you, in case Granville enquires or pushes you at all,
to adhere to what I said in H. of C. : that it would not be ex-
pedient that our ' representation ' shd. be produced at present.
And I don't want it to be produced this sess. It is working well :
omne ignotum, etc.
However Derby might seek to minimise what he and
Disraeli had done, public opinion, both at home and abroad,
recognised that England had reverted in a striking manner
to the traditions of her foreign policy before Gladstone's
premiership. The French Government expressed its grati-
tude ; and Bismarck at once realised that he had to deal now
in England with people who could make up their minds and
act.
To Lady Bradford.
2, WHITEHALL GARDENS, May 14. . . . P. Bis[marck] has sent
a message to me and Derby, thanking us for our interference, and
glad to see Eng[land] taking an interest in Continental] affairs
again. I believe, since Pam, we have never been so energetic, and
in a year's time we shall be more.
Bismarck's compliments veiled a feeling of resentment
at having unexpectedly to reckon once more with an inter-
national factor which he had come to think might be left
out of account. A letter from the Crown Princess of Prus-
sia, which her mother Queen Victoria forwarded to Disraeli,
throws much light on the Chancellor's real views and posi-
tion.
The Crown Princess to Queen Victoria.
POTSOAM, June 5. '75. The Crown Prince saw the Great Man
yesterday evening, who is going away into the country for some
time. He assured him that he sees no cause anywhere for alarm
1875] BISMARCK'S RESENTMENT 425
on the political horizon that he had never wished for war,
nor intended it that it was all the fault of the Berlin press,
etc., etc. He said he deeply regretted England being so un-
friendly towards us, and the violent articles in The Times against
us. He could not imagine why England suddenly took up a
position against us. That you had been much excited and
worked upon against us, etc. He even named the Empress Eu-
genie!!! This seems so foolish to me! Certain it is that Jie
did not intend (as you will read in the little German, aperfu) to
alarm the world to the extent he has done, and is now very much
annoyed at the consequences. He also fancies that in England
there is yet anxiety about India, and that England must there-
fore try to make friends with Russia (a nos depens). The P. of
W.'s journey to India is mentioned as a symptom! This seems
to me very absurd, but that is what he thinks! Lord Derby's
speech has also offended him, which I cannot understand. I feel
sure that all this irritation will blow over, but to us, and to many
quiet and reflecting Germans, it is very sad, and appears very
hard, to be made an object of universal distrust and suspicion,
which we naturally are, as long as Prince Bismarck remains the
sole and omnipotent ruler of our destinies. His will alone is
law here, and on his good or bad humour depend our chances of
safety and peace. . . .
Disraeli realised that the representations of the country
would not command respect abroad without a sufficient back-
ing of force. The Cabinet had already sanctioned in the
Budget of the current year additional expenditure on the
Navy and Army, and, after the anxious days of April and
May, even Derby reluctantly agreed that a further increase
was inevitable.
To Queen Victoria.
10, DOWNING STREET, Jan. 14, 1875. Mr. Disraeli with his
humble duty to your Majesty:
Mr. Hardy was able to attend the Cabinet, which sate two
hours, and discussed the military expenditure. There must be
an increase, probably between 5 [00,000] and 600,000, on the
Army and Navy. It is to be regretted, that it should take place
this year, as a Conservative Ministry, according to their op-
ponents, always increases expenditure. But it cannot be helped,
and Mr. Disraeli will be satisfied if the expenditure, though in-
creased, is not accompanied by fresh taxation. But the gov-
ernment of the country becomes more expensive every year. A
426 AN IMPERIAL FOREIGN POLICY [CHAP, xi
great portion of the expenditure, too, is automatic, self-acting,
as education for example, the amount claimed for which is this
year enormous, but cannot be refused. . . .
From Lord Derby.
E. 0. {June, 1875]. I should be more impressed by these
papers if I could remember a time when the C.-in-Chief had
not been seriously alarmed at the state of our armaments.
No doubt the Continent is arming; but with Germany and
France watching one another, both are more likely to be civil to
us than if they were on good terms.
It is a question, too, how long these enormous armaments will
be endured by the masses, who are compelled to serve.
But I do not suppose you want the question argued on ab-
stract and general grounds. What we have to consider is what
we can do.
The discussions in Cabinet left on my mind an impression
that an increase of 300,000 or 400,000 is justifiable, because
inevitable I mean taking Army and Navy together. Beyond
that we must not go. ...
It should not be overlooked that during the crisis of May,
1875, as during the Tsar's visit to London in May, 1874,
Disraeli's intervention was directed to the promotion of
friendlier relations between Great Britain and Russia, an
object which, in spite of acute antagonism at one period,
he pursued throughout his career. While recognising that
the interests of the two countries might well clash, he recog-
nised also that it was the duty of statesmanship, so far as
might be, to prevent such a clashing as would lead to war.
Hence his anxiety during all these early months of his
Ministry with regard to the position of Afghanistan, where
lie held that a system of drift would be fatal. Salisbury was
convinced, and Disraeli agreed with him, that, with Russian
emissaries at the ear of the Ameer, it was essential that the
Indian Government on its side should have a duly established
agent at his court. This policy Salisbury pressed upon
Northbrook, the Viceroy ; but was met by strong representa-
tions of its inexpediency in view of the certain unwilling-
ness, and probable refusal, of the Ameer to accept such an
agent.
1874-1875] AN AGENT IN AFGHANISTAN? 427
To Lord Salisbury.
HUGHENDEN MANOR, Oct. 15, 1874. . . . Persia and Afghan [is-
ta]n are broken reeds and I am sorry to see an inclination, on
the part of Northbrook, to lean on them.
Our man in Persia, Thompson, the same. He is restless for
arms, ammunition, officers, and, of course, subsidies, for the
Shah!
Utterly useless for our object; indeed pernicious, as they
would, and rightly, offend Kussia. But the arms, the ammuni-
tion, discipline, and treasure, if used at all, would probably be
used against us at least, against the Turks.
Oct. 17. The telegrams I receive from China this morning
are very menacing; and I more than fear that war between thatl?
country and Japan is inevitable. This will increase your diffi-l '
culties, for the East hangs together, and is wonderfully mesmeric.
You have a critical time before you in your department. I am
sorry to hear that Northbrook disdains the only means by wh.
safe intelligence can be obtained in Asia. This is a very serious
point. However, I have the utmost confidence in your judgment,
firmness, and resource.
CRICHEL, WIMBORNE, Jan. 6, 1875. I had been thinking, for
more than a month past, that it would be very satisfactory to me,
were I, the moment I got to town, to have a full conversation
with you on Indian affairs. They occasion me some disquietude,
and would occasion me more, were it not for my firm, I might say
unlimited, confidence in the colleague to whom those affairs are
intrusted.
And now I receive your confidential and interesting des-
patch. . . .
I have always been strongly in favor of our Government being
represented in Afghanistan, tho' not unaware of the difficulties
and dangers. The necessity, however, outweighs everything. It
is a question, whether we should not have an agent both at
Candahar and Herat. . . .
To Lady Bradford.
10, DOWNING ST., Jan. 13, 7 o'clock . . . Ld. Salisbury called
on me this morning at 12, and we had an interesting hour over
Central Asia, and all its mysterious fortunes and perils. It is
impossible for anyone to be more cordial ! . . .
While the question of the external security of India on
its north-west frontier hung fire, Disraeli was deeply en-
428 AN IMPERIAL FOREIGN POLICY [CHAP, xi
gaged in promoting its internal consolidation and content-
ment by arranging for a personal visit of the heir to the
Throne. The original idea appears not to have been his,
but to have come from the Prince of Wales himself, who had
already visited the principal Colonies and rightly thought
it his duty now to proceed to India. The Queen gave her
assent; but, on reconsideration of the many personal and
political difficulties involved, would gladly have recalled it.
Her Prime Minister and Indian Secretary, however, recog-
nised the immense political importance of establishing those
personal relations between the British Throne and the
princes and peoples of India, on which Disraeli had in-
sisted at the time of the Mutiny. Disraeli, at the Queen's
request, undertook the management of the affair, with Salis-
bury's assistance; and a thorny and anxious business he
found it. There was the critical question of expense. ' A
Prince of Wales must not move in India in a mesquin
manner. (^ Everything must be done on an Imperial scale/
as the Queen and her Minister agreed. ' The simplicity of
arrangement which might suit a visit to our own fellow-sub-
jects in the Colonies,' Disraeli said in the House of Com-
mons, would not equally apply in the case of India. There
was that remarkable and deeply rooted characteristic of
Oriental manners the exchange of presents between
visitors and their hosts. Presents of ceremonial could
rightly be discouraged ; but the Prince would visit immense
populations and be the guest, or make the acquaintance, of
many chiefs and rulers, and he ' must be placed in a posi-
tion to exercise those spontaneous feelings, characteristic of
his nature, of generosity and splendour, which his own
character, and the character of the country likewise, requires
to be gratified.' Disraeli accordingly proposed a vote, in
addition to the charge for the cost of the journey, of 60,000
for the Prince's personal expenses during the visit.
The sum was felt by the country to be moderate; and
many of the Prince's personal friends and even some of
his Anglo-India counsellors advised him that he was not
1875] THE PRINCE'S INDIAN VISIT 429
being treated generously. The Prince himself was too
amiable to bear any grudge ' the most amiable of mortals,'
Disraeli wrote of him this year to Lady Chesterfield, but
( a thoroughly spoilt child,' who ' can't bear being bored. I
don't much myself,' he added. Still, between the indigna-
tion of the Prince's entourage and the Queen's dislike of
the whole expedition and desire to curtail it, Disraeli's social
and official steering during the summer of the year 1875
was a delicate matter requiring a dexterous touch. He was
justified in the end, as his estimate proved to be within the
mark; and yet the Prince's progress was on a sufficiently
Imperial scale.
Disraeli's letters illustrate various phases of the con-
troversy.
To Lord Salisbury.
2, WHITEHALL GARDENS, June 13, 1875. I think you had better
not report, to H.R.H., the queen's approval.
One of his present grievances, is that Her Majesty does not
communicate with him directly, but by her Ministers. . . .
I am now going to write to him fully on all the matters ; worse
than ' gathering samphire ' ; and to Her Majesty. . . .
To Lady Bradford.
2, WHITEHALL GARDENS, July 7. . . . General Probyn and Mr.
Ellis came to me about the eternal business and its ever-recurring
difficulties. The Prince is at Newmarket.
I have had ceaseless correspondence with the Faery, who had
refused Prince and Secy, of State, to permit H.R.H. to hold an
investiture of the Star of India, and things looked very black
indeed. I had to interfere. . . . She writes : ' As you recommend
me to do it I consent, but I don't like it.' This is not pleasant.
Then she summons me again for Sunday to the Chateau, wh. is
most inconvenient. . . .
July 17, Friday. All went well last night, but it was a very
hard one. I made clear to the House and the country the two
sorts of visits wh. the P. might make to India, and showed, I
hope without offending him, how, after the second programme
had been adopted by the Govt., his thoughtless parasites had sub-
stituted for it the first.
The letter in The Times signed ' A Conservative M.P.', was
written by Randolph Churchill, under the dictation of Blandford
430 AN IMPERIAL FOREIGN POLICY [CHAP, xi
and Bartle Frere. Under their inspiration he had prepared a
Marlboro' House manifesto, and utterly broke down, destroying a
rather rising reputation. The letter is a mass of absurdities. It
assumes the P. is to make presents to the 95 reigning Princes. If
he visited them all, his tour wd. be six years, not six months. He
will visit only about five. . . .
Do you think I ought to dine at Stafford House on Tuesday
to meet the P. of Wales ? or wd. it be better for me to write to the
Duchess and get off? Advise me. . . .
July 19. . . . Yesterday, after work and church, I called on
Sir Anthony de R[othschild], whom I cd. not see, and doubt
wh[ethe]r I shall see again. 1 I saw, however, his wife. ... I
am sorry very for Sir Anthony; a thoro[ugh]ly good fellow,
the most genial being I ever knew, the most kindhearted, and the
most generous. The P. of W. had called and would see him, and
said he had seen one of the prettiest women in London that morn-
ing, and when he said he was going to call on Sir A., she replied,
1 Then give him my dearest love.' Poor Sir A. was intrigue, and,
pleased and perplexed, could not find out that the lady was the
Pss. of Wales. . . .
Then I dined at Piccadilly Terrace 2 where I had invited my-
self (the day before), and where they then said, on Saturday, they
were quite alone exc[ep]t Neilson. But I found a most amusing
party, wh. they had scrambled up Louise, 3 who was delightful
tho' a little noisy, too shrieking in her merriment, and Harty-
Tarty, and Count Corti, whom I had not seen for ten years, and
the Peels, and B[ernal] O[sborne] and Chas. Villiers. ... I
took in to dinner Neilson, who pleased me, for she did not sing.
Did you hear how the Prince intrigued the Dss. of Sutherland
at the masqued ball ? He addressed her, ' How do you do, Mrs.
Sankey? How is Mr. Moody?' Very good, I think.
I dread my Stafford House dinner to-morrow. There was a
Greenwich dinner on Friday or Saturday ; the Prince there. The
D. of Sutherland arrived, and said, ' What a shabby concern this
vote is! If I were you, Sir, I would not take it. I wd. borrow
the money of some friends at five pr. ct.' ' Well, will you lend it
me ? ' sd. the Prince, wh. shut the Duke up.
If H.R.H. knew I had so successfully proved he was a wit,
perhaps he wd. pardon me. . . .
Disraeli's apprehensions were, of course, rather of a
mock-heroic character. At any rate, early in October the
1 Sir Anthony died in January, 1876.
2 Baron Lionel de Rothschild's house,
s Duchess of Manchester.
1875] DISRAELI AND THE PRINCE 431
Prince, on the eve of departure, invited him to Sandringham
for a long week-end visit, and treated his guest with high
consideration.
To Lady Bradford.
HUGHENDEN MANOR, Oct.^ 13, 1875. . . . I was so utterly over-
whelmed by the disappointment of not seeing you * that I found it
impossible on Sunday to write to the Prince (and cd. scarcely
converse with my guests). I quite gave it up I mean the letter ;
but I had a feeling of remorse at the last moment on Monday, at
not following yr. suggestions, wh. I always wish to do, and sent
a few lines, wh. he cd. not have received till past seven o'ck. on
the eve of his departure. Nevertheless he found time to write
me a touching letter and to send me his photograph with his
signature, and the fatal date of his departure. . . .
From the Prince of Wales.
MARLBOROUGH HOUSE, Oct. 11, '75.
MY DEAR MR. DISRAELI, I am much touched by your kind letter
and good wishes on my long journey, and I thank you for your
advice which I shall always be most ready to accept at your hands.
I am fully alive to the importance of my visit to India and hope
that neither you or any one else in my land will have cause to
regret that the honour of my country has been placed in my hands
whilst in India. Am I saying too much in stating this ? It will
always give me the greatest pleasure to hear from you, and I know
that you will always be a good friend to me.
Please accept the accompanying photograph and Believe me,
Yours most sincerely, ALBERT EDWARD.
The Prince's visit, which occupied the cold weather of
1875-1876, was eminently successful. In the midst of
his progress, he wrote on January 9, with becoming modesty,
to Disraeli : ' My tour through India continues to inter-
est me in the highest possible degree. The work has been
hard at times, but the reception from all classes of the na-
tives has been most gratifying, and if on my return home
I shall have met with the approval of the Queen and my
countrymen, I shall have every reason to look back to m}
visit to this splendid country with the feelings of the great-
i Lady Bradford had failed to fulfil her engagement to stay at
Hughenden. See above, p. 403.
432 AN IMPERIAL FOREIGN POLICY [CHAP, xi
est possible satisfaction.' Apart from his success in intro-
ducing the personal note into the relationship between the
Sovereign in England and the subject in India, the Prince's
good feeling and sense of right led him to make, on one vital
topic, generous and fruitful representations.
To Lord Salisbury.
2, WHITEHALL GARDENS, Dec. 13, 1875. I have just returned
from Windsor. . . . Read extract from letter of P. of W. to
the Queen; and a passage I have marked in pencil. Frequently
I hear of this. Nothing is more disgusting, than the habit of
our officers speaking always of the inhabitants of India many
of them descended from the great races as ' niggers.'
It is ignorant, and brutal and surely most mischievous. We
ought to do something. If you be in town, I should be glad to see
y"ou. . . .
It was natural that Disraeli should warmly welcome and
enforce representations so entirely in harmony with what
he had laid down in the fifties as the proper policy of the
British Government in India. ' Something ' was done at
once. Salisbury took the opportunity of an address at
Cooper's Hill, the Indian engineering college, to warn the
students against treating natives with contumely and vio-
lence, or exhibiting race-arrogance in any form. And Lyt-
ton, who succeeded N/orthbrook as Viceroy in the spring of
1876, made the first case of native ill-treatment and official
condonation, which occurred after his arrival in India, the
occasion of a drastic minute, which, though issued in defi-
ance of current Anglo-Indian opinion, had a far-reaching
effect.
It was while the final preparations were being made for
the Prince's departure from England that Disraeli learnt
that Korthbrook, for private reasons, proposed to resign.
He was not entirely surprised, for he had written to Salis-
bury on June 8 : ' My own impression is that, somehow
or other, Nbrthbrook's reign will soon terminate, and you
and I must look out for the right man.' For the moment
it was an awkward complication; but it provided an op-
1875] NORTHBROOK'S RESIGNATION 433
portunity for bringing the Government of India into har-
mony with the Cabinet by placing at its head someone who
would receive in a more sympathetic manner than the re-
tiring Viceroy the anxious suggestions of Disraeli and
Salisbury for the strengthening of the British position on
the north-west frontier.
To Lord Salisbury.
HUGHENDEN MANOR, Oct. 15, 1875. I think it unfortunate, that
Northbrook wishes not to fulfil his term.
If his intended resignation be announced at once, the public
mind, agitated at this moment about India, will impute his with-
drawal to any motive except the private one alleged, and wb. in-
deed, under no circumstances, will ever be credited. . . .
But, if the resignation be announced during the Prince's visit,
it will be still 1 worse, for it will then certainly be imputed to a
misunderstanding with His Royal Highness.
I don't think he deserves an earldom but you deserve any-
thing and, therefore, if, on reflection, you wish it, he shall have
five balls. Hardinge was only a viscount, and he fought battles
and gained victories. Consider this.
Water, I trust, will not prove fatal to the Government. Be-
tween Plimsoll, the Vanguard, 1 and the Admiralty Instructions
and Minute, we seem in a leaky state : but it is only October, and
there is time, I hope, to caulk. . . .
Oct. 28. I have called the Cabinet together, for the 4th Novr.,
to confer, and decide, upon our course respecting these accursed
Admiralty Instructions. . . .
There is none of my coll. whose opinion I more value, than your
own.
Here I was going to end, but I can't resist telling you, that
I am anxious, and a little disquieted, about Central Asian affairs.
Before you bring them, even indirectly, under the consideration
of the Cabinet, I think it would be better, that we should confer
together.
I am quite prepared for acting with energy and promptitude
,in the direction of Herat, if we could only come to a bona fide
lunderstanding with Afghanistan. But can we? If a movement
Ion our part, wh. is not only to secure our Empire, but to preserve
Itheir independence, is actually used by Russia to create ill-feeling
[between us and Afghan [ista]n, that would be a deplorable result.
i H.M.S. Vanguard had sunk in Irish waters after collision in a fog
with H.M.S. Iron Duke.
434 AN IMPERIAL FOREIGN POLICY [CHAP, xi
However, I have great confidence in you and a little in myself,
and I trust, therefore, we may be equal to a critical occasion.
Can you suggest a good High Ch. Dean, who is not a damned
fool, and won't make himself ridiculous?
From Lord Salisbury.
Confidential. INDIA OFFICE, Oct. 31. 1875. . . . Touching
Central Asia : I should much like to talk the matter over with
you : for the decision is one of great responsibility. The dilemma
is 'simply this. It concerns us much to have an agent in Afghan-
istan. We want to guide the Ameer, and to watch; for there is
the double danger that he may play us false, or, remaining true,
may blunder into operations which will bring him into collision
with Russia. It would also be a great security for peace, if we
were able to keep the Czar, who wishes for peace, informed of the
intrigues of his frontier officers, who do not. But on the other
hand it is of great importance I quite admit it not to irritate
the Ameer. But this is a sort of difficulty which the Indiaij
Government has had constantly to meet. Diplomacy has been a
real power in Indian history because of the moral ascendancy
which British officers have acquired over the Princes at whos^
Courts they were placed. I do not propose to send a mission tp
Afghanistan against the Ameer's wishes : but I propose to tell thje
Government of India to make the Ameer wish it. It cannot of
course be done straight off by return of post : but by the exer-
cise of tact in the choice of the moment and the argument I fe^l
sure that it can be done. The Ameer is genuinely frightened of
the Russians: and every advance they make will make him more
pliable, until their power on his frontier seems to him so grea^
and he is so convinced of our timidity, that he thinks safer to ti&
himself to them than to us. But on all this I should much lik^
to talk to you.
The Queen has written to Lord Northbrook asking him to keep
the secret till the close of the Prince's visit. I have telegraphed
to him a similar message from her.
She told me that you proposed to make Lord Powis Viceroy.
The intelligence rather startled me: for he has no experience of
affairs, and I have noted in him no trace of practical ability.
Your own judgment must of course guide you: but I hope you
will not decide hastily, as there is plenty of time. The post is
terribly important: a feeble occupant might bring about a great
disaster.
I have put down in a separate note all that I know about possi-
1875] CHOOSING A VICEROY 435
ble High Church Deans ' who are not damned fools ' a formid- JU
able restriction !
Though the Queen, as well as Salisbury, was startled by
the suggestion, Disraeli had excellent reasons for fixing on
the third Earl of Powis * as his first choice for Viceroy. If
Lord Powis never took a very active part in political life
and so came little under the Queen's or Salisbury's notice,
he was nevertheless an exceptionally able and well-read man,
of sound judgment and tact, and of great reputation in local
affairs in North Wales and Shropshire. Disraeli knew him
in the House of Commons as one of the eager spirits at-
tracted by ' Young England ' ; and he conceived that India
would welcome as Viceroy the great-grandson, in the direct
line, of Lord Olive.
To Queen Victoria.
2, WHITEHALL GARDENS, Nov. 5, 1875. . . . The Cabinet meets
again to-day, when Mr. Disraeli hopes to lay before them a general
view of the probable business of next session.
After the Cabinet yesterday, at four o'clock, Mr. Disraeli had
a long interview with Lord Salisbury.
There is no question now about Lord Powis. He had been
sounded by Mr. Disraeli, without any unnecessary confidence, but
said his health was too delicate for foreign service, and though
he should have liked to have served the Crown earlier in life,
he felt, now, it was too late for him to begin.
He is modest, for in presiding, somewhat recently, over the
Royal Commission on Irish Education, he showed administrative
powers of a high character.
The person whom Mr. Disraeli had fixed upon, for your Ma-
jesty's consideration, was Lord John Manners, a man of many
admirable qualities, and unjustly under-rated by the public.
He is a statesman; with a large practical experience of public
affairs; a student, as well as a practical statesman; thoroughly
versed in all the great political questions of Eastern and European
politics; an admirable administrator with a great capacity of
11818-1891: M.P. for North Shropshire, 1843-1848; High Steward
of Cambridge University; first President of the University College of
North Wales at Bangor; Lord- Lieutenant of Montgomeryshire and
Chairman of Quarter Sessions.
436 AN IMPERIAL FOREIGN POLICY [CHAP, xi
labor ; a facile pen ; brave, firm, and a thorough gentleman. But
Mr. Disraeli fears Lord John's health is breaking up.
Lord Salisbury and Mr. Disraeli agreed, that the resignation of
Lord Northbrook should be kept quite close and confined to them-
selves and your Majesty. If imparted to the Cabinet, it will soon
be babbled about by the wives. Indeed, the rumor is in the air,
and has been more or less for a year. Yesterday Lady Derby
mentioned it to Mr. Disraeli, who said ' That is an old story,'
but anxious to find out whether it was the old story with her,
he extracted, after a little while, her authority Mrs. Morier.
Mr. Disraeli hopes your Majesty will approve of the Deanery
of Chichester being conferred on Mr. Burgon. It will not be dis-
pleasing to the High Church party, who are very much offended
with Mr. Disraeli, while Mr. Burgon is thoroughly sound on the
great questions, being one of the ablest defenders of the union
of the Church with the State: now the key-note of ecclesiastical
politics, and which the pure Sacerdotalists are attempting to
abolish.
Mr. Burgon is one of the most eminent of the resident Oxford
clergy ; eminent as a scholar, a writer, and a preacher : and a man
of original and interesting character.
Mr. Disraeli will keep your Majesty perfectly informed of all
that occurs ; probably every day.
John Manners, as Disraeli feared when he wrote to the
Queen, declined the Viceroyalty because he believed he had
not sufficient health and strength for the post; Carnarvon,
another colleague, to whom his chief next applied, declined
because he was a widower with young children. After
this refusal Disraeli was rather at a loss, and Salisbury, who
was e in despair at the barrenness of the Tory land,' could
only suggest names that seemed to him just ' tolerable.'
The Queen mentioned the name of a man who was after-
wards a most successful Viceroy Dufferin ; but put it
aside as ' he, she is afraid, has not health, and too large a
" small family," as the Highlanders say, to enable him to
accept it.' He was also a Whig. Of another suggestion
which Her Majesty made Salisbury wrote to Disraeli:
' The appearance of Derby's name is a charming touch of
nature. It reveals a world of untold suffering and
desperate hope.' Finally, Disraeli turned, with Salisbury's
1875-1876] LYTTON'S APPOINTMENT 437
entire approval, to the son of an old friend and colleague,
the second Lord Lytton, then British Minister at Lisbon,
who combined the practised deftness of a diplomatist with
the imagination of a poet. ' The critical state of affairs in
Central Asia demands a statesman,' wrote Disraeli on
November 23, ' and I believe if you will accept this high
post you will have an opportunity, not only of serving your
country, but of obtaining an enduring fame.' Lytton, who
was a delicate man, had more claim than others who had
pleaded ill-health to exemption on that ground; but, after
stating the facts, he submitted to the decision of the Cabinet,
and, in Disraeli's words, accepted ' the superb but awful
post.' Derby was ready to release him at once from his
service under the Foreign Office, observing cheerfully that
he would die in India, but that to die Viceroy was some-
thing.
To Lady Bradford.
HUGHENDEN MANOR, Jan. 5, 1876. . . . . We have been obliged
to announce the great Indian change somewhat sooner than we
intended, and rather suddenly, but it was leaking out. There ia
always a traitor except in the Suez Canal business. 1 . . .
2, WHITEHALL GARDENS, l / 2 past 6 [Jan. 20, 1876]. . . . I got
from the Cab. at Vfc Pt- 5, and found Lytton waiting for me ; and
now he has just gone. I knew him really before he was born a
few months ; and now I see him here, and a Viceroy.
He told me his first remembrance of me was calling on him
at a little school he was at at Twickenham, and I ' tipped ' him.
It was the first tip he ever had ; and now I have tipped him again,
and put a crown on his head! It's like meeting the first char-
acters of a play in the last scene! . . .
The Far East, as well as the Near East and India,
demanded Ministerial attention in 1875. There were anx-
ious negotiations with China arising out of the murder of a
British Consular official, A. R. Margary. A letter to Lady
Bradford shows with what imaginative insight Disraeli had
grasped the essentials of Far Eastern development.
i See below, ch. 12.
43$ AN IMPERIAL FOREIGN POLICY [CHAP, xi
To Lady Bradford.
HUGHENDEN MANOR, Sept. 27, 1875. . . . I have taken a step
in diplomacy, wh. I am sure never was taken before. I have in-
duced the Japanese Minister in England to telegraph to his Gov-
ernment, urging them to offer their mediation in the event of
serious difficulty arising bet [wee] n China and England, and to
declare that if China will not accept that mediation, and act upon
it, Japan will join England against her, and place a Japanese
contingent under the orders of any British forces employed by
us against the Celestial Empire. I know not why Japan shd. not
become the Sardinia of the Mongolian East. They are by far
the cleverest of the Mongol race. Now you know one of the
greatest secrets of State going!
Hence it appears that, only ten years after Japan had
definitely started on the path of progress, Disraeli recognised
her great qualities and possibilities, anticipated that she
would become ( the Sardinia of the Mongolian East,' and
proposed common action between her and Great Britain
on behalf of their common interests in that region, thus
initiating a policy which culminated, thirty years later, in
the Anglo-Japanese Alliance.
CHAPTER XII
SUEZ CANAL AND ROYAL TITLE
1875-1876
It was while Disraeli's mind was full, on the one hand,
of the Indian problems involved in the Russian advance in
Asia, in the Prince of Wales's visit, and in the selection of a
new Viceroy, and, on the other hand, of the threatened
revival of the Eastern question owing to the outbreak in
Herzegovina, that the opportunity came, for which he had
been waiting, of striking an effective and resounding blow
for the security of our imperial communications, and for
the strengthening of the British position in the whole East-
ern world. On Monday, November 15, 1875, Frederick
Greenwood, a journalist of high distinction, who, as editor
of the Pall Mall Gazette, gave Disraeli and his Government
strong but independent support, called on Derby at the
Foreign Office to tell him that the Khedive of Egypt, who
held some 177,000 out of the 400,000 ordinary shares of
the Suez Canal, was negotiating for their transfer to a
syndicate of French capitalists, and to urge that the British
Government should step in and purchase the shares itself.
Greenwood's information was the result of meeting at din-
ner Henry Oppenheim, a financier largely interested in
Egypt, and his political insight and enlightened patriotism
prompted his mission to the Foreign Office.
It was a startling suggestion, and was naturally not at
first welcomed by the cautious Derby. But Disraeli's im-
agination discerned at once the high political value of the
purchase, and, while the Foreign Secretary reluctantly
yielded to the necessity of preventing the great highway of
439
440 SUEZ CANAL AND ROYAL TITLE [CHAP, xn
JiBritish traffic with British India and British Australasia
ra:rom passing into wholly French hands, the